Through a Snake's Eyes
by Sithryn
Summary: Sorry guys, unfortunately I've lost a lot of interest in writing this story. I'm currently trying to work on a different story. Again, I apologize but I kept telling myself I would update, but it just never happened. I can't give a better reason than that, but luckily I don't have to. Hopefully I'll find the inspiration to actually finish this new project.
1. The Hogwarts Express

Harry Potter stared out of the window of the Hogwarts Express, watching the trees zip past. He wasn't necessarily looking forward to his upcoming term at Hogwarts. The Prophet and the Ministry had taken it upon themselves to slander him and Dumbledore. The last year had been tragic for Harry. Dreams of Cedric Diggory's death still tormented him in his sleep. The Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's return both had ruined his fourth year.

Ronald Weasley, Harry's best mate was currently rambling on about the Chudley Cannons, while Hemione was desperately trying to read the transfiguration textbook for the upcoming year. They were both trying not to mention what had happened in the last year, especially with the trial which had happened over the summer break.

Harry decided he needed to get away from the chatter of his supposed best friends. He had wasted away the whole summer wondering why his friends were being so vague in their letters, and had begun to feel that they were distancing themselves from him. He later learned that it was Dumbledore who had made them swear not to give him too much information. Nevertheless, Harry was still upset with the both of them.

Harry quietly excused himself from the compartment, earning him confused and concerned looks from both Hermione and Ron.

"I'm fine, I just need some air" he assured them.

As he walked along the corridor of the train, his eyes were fixed upon the ground. He wondered what was going on with him. Ever since the night of Cedric's death, he had been different. Something in him had snapped. He was angry all the time, and had no control over his temper. Although he knew his friends were only trying to help, he couldn't help but feel angry at them.

It was while he was in deep thought that Harry Potter found himself in a most awkward situation. One that would change his life forever.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass had had enough of listening to Draco Malfoy going on and on about how great his father was, and how many muggleborns he had tormented on the way into the compartment. Of course, Pansy Parkinson had been all over him, exclaiming how 'dazzling' he was. Daphne had no patience in listening to the prat talk about his many accomplishments, trying to win her over. In the end, she had stormed out of the compartment, after telling Draco to take his blood status and shove it up his pure blood arse.

Daphne's family had never been on Voldemort's side, contrary to popular belief. They were a relatively new pure blood family, and did not care about blood status. The Greengrasses had always been a neutral family, but because the whole family had been in Slytherin, they were labeled as 'dark' with the rest of the gits.

Tracey Davis was Daphne's best friend. The two families had known each other for the longest time. Daphne and Tracey had been best friends since birth. Daphne was rarely seen with any other person, except perhaps Blaise Zabini.

Daphne knew she was probably the prettiest girl in the year. Her bouncy blonde hair cascaded down to her chest, and her deep blue eyes sparkled. She knew she had an impressive chest, which combined with her other features made her increasingly striking.  
She was nicknamed the Ice Queen. This was largely due to the persona she wore in public, which was cold and uncaring. People who were close to her, like Tracey, knew that truly, she was compassionate and funny.

As Daphne stormed along the corridors of the Hogwarts Express, she murmured to herself about "greasy haired gits" and "bloody wankers"

She was so engrossed in cursing Malfoy under her breath, that she didn't see the messy haired boy walking towards her, and ran right into him. The impact knocked her on her backside, and she huffed as she looked up to see who it was that had knocked her on her butt.

Her icy blue eyes stared into the emerald green eyes of Harry Potter.


	2. The Great Hall

The first thing Harry noticed about her were her eyes. They were a strikingly icy blue, and it seemed as if he might get lost in them. As he was helping her get up, he couldn't help but notice her chest. He could have sworn it was about to explode. There was no denying that she was easily the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He was stunned, and could not form words. His mouth opened and closed as he struggled to make a sound.

"Sorry" he finally managed to choke out.

The girl got up and brushed herself off. She stared deep into his eyes, shook her head and walked on.

He was standing there for another minute before he raced back to his compartment. Ron and Hermione both wondered what had occurred to bring about the sudden change in him. Whatever it was they were not complaining, because it was the first time they had seen him happy in a while.

* * *

Daphne had never thought twice about Potter in her time at Hogwarts. Sure they had had classes together, and they had worked together in potions, but she had never really thought much about him.

He had helped her up after knocking her down, and then had tried to speak, like a fish out of water. It was pathetic, and when he finally was able to form a word, all he had to say was 'sorry'.

After reading what the Daily Prophet had been saying about him, she had felt a little bit sorry for the boy, but of course had no opinion on the subject.

Daphne felt her face get hot as she walked back to the compartment Tracey and Blaise were sitting in. Both were startled when she slammed the door shut.

"What's got you so heated?" Questioned Tracey

"Harry Potter just knocked me over in the corridor" replied Daphne

Blaise gave her a perplexed look. "So?"

"He was obviously drooling over me and all he could spit out was a meager sorry!"

At this both Tracey and Blaise burst into laughter, which earned each an icy glare.

"Don't you think you're being a little unreasonable Daph?" Tracey asked in between giggles.

Daphne, who was red in the cheeks, reciprocated with a playful swat to her arm.

* * *

Finally, the train came to a stop, and Harry got off with Ron and Hermione trailing behind. They were some of the last to step off, and were waiting for the carriages to come once again, when Harry felt hot breathing down his neck. He jumped, and turned around with his wand drawn.

Slowly, he lowered it. "What is it? That's pulling the carriages?"

"What's what? Nothing's pulling the carriages." Replied a concerned Hermione.

"You sure you're okay mate?" Ron shakily asked, as he helped Hermione onto carriage.

The creature was rather thin, and scaly as well, and Harry noticed that it's skin was very pink and fleshy. The horse like creature had two giant wings draped over its back, and they too were pink and fleshy.

"You're not crazy. I can see them too, you're just as sane as I am," came a voice from inside the carriage.

As Harry climbed in to investigate where the mysterious voice was coming from, he saw a pale blonde girl reading a magazine, The Quibbler, upside down.

"Everyone this is Loony- " Hermione faltered, "Luna Lovegood." Hermione got very pink in the face, due to her mistake. The rest of the ride back to the castle held an uneasy silence, as the group had no words to say.

* * *

With the sorting finally finished, and some new additions to the Gryffindor table, the feast began. The new first years watched in awe as the once empty plates began to fill with food.

"Don't you ever stop eating?" Hermione angrily reprimanded Ronald, who was loading his mouth and his plate with different types of food.

"Wha I wav hungwy" came the reply from Ron, with his mouth full of chicken. Harry could tell Hermione was going to start bickering with Ron, and looked up to scan the room, wanting nothing to do with the argument.

That's when Harry saw the flash of blonde hair and the beautiful girl who he had knocked over on the train. To his dismay, she appeared to be sitting at the Slytherin table. "Shit" thought Harry.

"Hermione who is that girl sitting over at the Slytherin table?" Harry inquired, slowly looking up to see her reaction as he asked her.

"That's Daphne Greengrass, honestly Harry don't you pay attention," to which Harry gave her a sheepish smile " she's been in our class for four years!"

Daphne Greengrass. That was her name. He had thought she was vaguely familiar on the train, but had not been able to remember who she was. She was so beautiful. Harry wondered why he hadn't noticed before. To be honest, he had been too focused on the other messed up shit going on in his life at the time, but he had noticed her and couldn't stop looking at her.

* * *

Tracey Davis was a very protective person. She knew how the rest of the school thought about Slytherin. Draco Malfoy and his goons had been giving their house a bad name, and was constantly drooling over Daphne. Tracey knew that she had to protect her friend.

That's why when she saw Harry Potter constantly staring at Daphne, she couldn't help but get a little suspicious. She of course knew of the incident on the train, and thought it was strange that Potter was eyeing her friend. He had never once spoken to them in the four years they'd been at Hogwarts together.

"Daph, don't look not but Potter is staring at you," murmured Tracey discreetly. Blaise, being the wanker he was, immediately turned around and gave Potter a stare.

"You bloody idiot I was trying to make it discreet," Tracey hissed. Blaise gave her an innocent look, and went back to eating his mashed potatoes.

Daphne on the other hand, was in the Ice Queen mask, and simply gave Harry a icy stare, to which the boy visibly shivered, before quickly looking down and finishing his food.

"Jeez Daphne you don't the have to scare him to death! The poor boy was just looking!" Tracey exclaimed as she saw the boy quickly finish his food and leave the Great Hall, his face red.


	3. The First Meeting

**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction I've ever written. I know it's going a little slow right now and the chapters might be a little short, but I assure you that as the story progresses the chapters will get longer and the story will develop more. I hope so far you've liked the story. I'm still getting used to the kinks of writing this stuff so please leave reviews and comments to help me out. Thanks! Sithryn**

The next several days were rather uneventful, and Harry had quickly understood that people he had considered friends, had now turned their backs on him. Seamus Finnegan, being one of them.

"You're a bloody liar," he had told Harry, after they had entered the common room one day. "My mum reckons you're just claiming he's back for the fame."

"I don't give a damn about what your mother thinks, and if she thinks I'm lying, she can fuck off!" He retorted.

His sudden outburst did not go unnoticed and Ron quickly came to his side to calm him down. "Are you okay?" He had questioned as he trudged up the stairs behind Harry.

Harry took a long deep breath, and slowly replied "I'm fine."

"It's just Seamus, it doesn't matter what he says," Ron continued as he began to undo his tie.

Now Harry was growing angry, and could think of no reason why. "I said I'm FINE Ron!"

To this, the redhead hadn't responded, but simply put his stuff down upon the bed and left the room.

Not only were the frequent taunts from Draco Malfoy getting to him, the new DADA teacher, Delores Umbridge, was increasing pissing him off. Her classes were ridiculous, and taught close to nothing, and she continued to deny Voldemorts return, and assign detentions to Harry when he protested. The latest of his many detentions featured him writing lines with his own blood.

He had been in her classroom, and announced the fact of Voldemorts return, and so in detention, he was forced to write, I Must Not Tell Lies. The catch was it was with his own blood, so now the words were etched onto the back of his left hand. Harry refused to tell anybody, and when told by Hermione to tell someone, he had snapped at her in a fit of rage and left the room.

Harry had not been able to stop thinking about Daphne Greengrass however. Her long blonde hair and cute nose, as well as her blue eyes kept him awake, and it had not gone unnoticed to his friends that he had been taking quick glance at her constantly.

"Harry you should go talk to her if you want to so much," Hermione had said one day during lunch.

All Harry had been able to say was "what?"

Ron however had an opposite view on the subject. He had strongly disapproved of Harry's newfound obsession with her.

"She's a bloody snake mate, you can't trust her at all," he had said, but Harry had not cared. He just couldn't get over Daphne Greengrass.

* * *

Daphne had not been oblivious to Potter's constant staring. In fact she had been told by many other of her class mates as well about his sudden interest in her. She however had no real interest in him whatsoever. He was clearly a spoiled and ignorant brat, which had been clearly drilled into her head by her head of house, Severus Snape.

"I think he likes you," Tracey had said, when Blaise had mentioned that Potter was looking at her a lot.

"I noticed" she responded coldly. "He's pathetic"

"You've mentioned" Tracey snickered. "You should give him a chance, I think it would do you some good."

Daphne hadn't answered. In all honesty, she had grown increasingly annoyed at the attention she was getting from the boy.

* * *

A couple days later found Harry feeling quite alone. He sat in the quidditch stadium by himself. His friends had been trying to help him, but Harry just had not been able to control his anger, and had snapped at both of them and stormed out of the common room.

He had just returned from another one of Umbridges detentions, with a fresh set of scars which spelled 'I Must Not Tell Lies.'

After sitting down and opening his books, he noticed Hermione's concerned look. "What is it?" He demanded.

"Harry you should really tell Dumbledore what that vile woman is doing to you! It must not be legal," she started.

Harry felt his blood boil. Although he could not understand why this was making him so angry, he couldn't help it. He knew she had good intention, he wasn't able to control himself from snapping at her. "Oh don't start like you actually care. I was alone the whole summer wondering why both of you were being so distant in your letters! I needed you both after what happened last year! You both abandoned me. When I needed you most."

After completing his quite loud rant, he had stormed out of the common, and had ignored it when Ron had called after him.

So now he was sitting in the quidditch stadium thinking to himself. Harry did not even notice a certain blonde haired Slytherin approaching him.

"What's up with you Potter" came a voice from behind him. He couldn't tell who it was, until a blonde haired witch sat down right next to him.

"Greengrass" he acknowledged. He was at a loss for words, and didn't know how to respond in the situation.

"Well.. Aren't you going to answer the question? What's wrong?"

Harry huffed, and replied "Nobody believes me that Voldemort has returned, and I have pushed my friends away. I feel angry all the time and I can't help but feel that the world is against me" he couldn't understand why, but he poured all of his emotion out to her.

Daphne definitely wasn't ready for what he said, and had no words. She had always believed he was the pompous and arrogant person he was portrayed to be by her peers, but the person who was sitting next to her, was not at all arrogant. She couldn't help but put her arms around him to comfort him. He seemed on the verge of breaking, and she didn't know what to do.

To be honest, Daphne was not even sure why she had come and sat next to him in the first place. He had just looked so sad, and she felt compelled to come and sit with him. "You know Potter, I think your friends are just trying to help you. After all they're your friends after all."

Then she noticed scratch marks on the back of his hand. "What is that? On the back of your hand?"

And so Harry explained the whole situation with Umbridge, and how she had made him write lines with his own blood by the end of the story she seemed more than horrified.

They at there for a while, her hands wrapped around him, until Harry felt that he felt significantly better.

"Thanks Greengrass, I really needed that," he said. "You aren't as cold hearted as you pretend to be," he said with a sly grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Tell anyone and you'll be found murdered in your bed, and it won't be the Dark Lord who did it" she replied sarcastically.

As Daphne walked back to the common room, she wondered how wrong she had really been about Harry Potter. Clearly she had a misconception, and she wanted to know more about him. Maybe all the rumors about him were true.

First she would have to tell Tracey what had happened.


	4. Making Up

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for the long ass wait. I'll try my best not to let it happen again. It was just a hectic couple of weeks with finals and what not. Anyway hope you guys enjoy the next chapter. This one is a little longer so I'm hoping to slowly work my way up to longer chapters. I'm trying to do a different take on Harry. He is not necessarily dark but with the additions of some of the spells and things he learns, he will start to play dirty against the death eaters. Just to let you guys know. Anyways expect an update next weekend! Sithryn**

Harry took Daphne's advice, and the next day approached his friends rather timidly. They were sitting with Neville and Ginny when he strode into the Great Hall.

He took a deep breath. "Do you both have a moment? I want to speak with you," he started.

Hermione, who had looked hesitant when he had first approached, now had a noticeably brighter smile. "Of course!" She replied

The Golden Trio walked together, and Harry started to talk. "I know I've been a right arse this last year, and that you guys were sworn to secrecy by Dumbledore, and I've been harsh to the both of you since the summer-" he started.

Ron stopped him here, "mate you don't need to apologize to us. We're here for you. We know you've had it rough and honestly I don't blame you for lashing out."

Coming from Ron, this really surprised Harry. He had expected him to be hotheaded and more than a little pissed off at him, especially considering their falling out in the fourth year.

"No Ron it doesn't matter it wasn't an excuse. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I'm sorry."

This time it was Hermione who spoke up. "Harry, as Ron explained, neither one of us is holding anything against you. If you really need to hear it, apology accepted. just promise talk to us, we just want to help!"

Delighted with how his friends accepted his apology, he quickly changed the subject to Daphne. He told them what had happened the previous night after he had stormed out of the common room. Hermione was surprised, mostly because the most she had ever seen of her was the ice queen mask she wore.

"I don't want you to be hurt mate, so be careful what you're getting into. I know she may seem like a nice girl but you never know with those snakes-" Ron had started, but Harry cut him off.

"Oh come off it! She's a nice girl... I think"

The three began to giggle at this, which soon turned into a full fledged laugh for five minutes before Hermione wiped the tears out of her eyes and told them they really needed to get to Transfiguration.

* * *

Harry was spending an increasing amount of time in the room of requirement. After the graveyard, he had taken it upon himself to spend more time on training. He was not prepared to have anyone else die because of him.

He threw curse after curse at the practice dummies, till he was panting and sweat dripped down his chin. He had already learned how to perform all his spells without talking, and was now trying to learn new spells and deadly spells he could use in future run-ins with death eaters.

Over the summer, when he and the Weasleys had gone to Diagon Alley, he had slipped away and gone to Gringotts.

After meeting with Griphook, his account manager, he had gained access to most of his parents vaults. He had requested to enter and take out anything that seemed interesting. After checking his mothers private vault, and finding nothing interesting in there, he had proceeded to the Potter vault.

Upon entering the vault, Harry had almost fainted. It seemed the vault was almost overflowing with riches. Everywhere he looked he saw galleons and gold. At the very back, behind all the stacks of gold, he saw a bookshelf, and he quickly scurried towards it.

As he was not very interested with the gold, because he had not much need of it, he was deeply fascinated with what he could learn from the books within the vault. Quickly, he had found an array of different books he though could be useful. One being the Potter Spell Book.

Apparently, throughout the generations, each Potter had created spells and put them into this book. Some of the spells even dated back to the time of the founders. The book was made in a way that only a Potter could read and use the spells it contained. He had shrunk all the books and was exiting the vault when he saw something that made his heart skip a beat.

Behind the bookshelf, he saw a portrait with a beautiful woman, with long red hair tumbling down the sides of her head. Harry recognized her instantly. Next to her was a man with a messy head of hair, and hazel eyes, covered with round glasses. These were faces he had only seen in the mirror of Erised. They both seemed to have frozen smiles on their faces, so he called Griphook in to inquire about them.

"Ah, see what you have to do is tap the portrait with your wand and say 'activate' and they will awaken," he stated.

Nodding, Harry shrunk the portrait down and carefully placed it into his bag. Without saying another word he quietly left the vault and had gone back to join the Weasleys.

That had been months ago. In the time since then, Harry had studied and trained from the Potter Spell Book and learned many new spells, like 'oculomus', which permanently impaired the opponents vision, and 'gladium iacta', which conjured a dagger that shot towards the opponent.

He had learned a lot in the past months, and had set up an area in the room of requirement, in which he had a training area, with training dummies and a pit for dueling practice, as well as a separate section with a bed and he had hung his parents portrait on the wall next to it. With help from Dobby, he had the place ready in no time, and whenever he needed the place, all he had to do was call Dobby, who would pop him into the room.

When he had told Hermione and Ron about his training, they insisted on coming with him and training as well. Of course he had been delighted, and the three often dueled with each other.

"You know Harry, especially with the Umbitch not teaching us anything in class, you should form a group of students and teach them DADA," Hermione had said.

He had not said anything at the time, because he wasn't sure if he would be a good teacher. Of course, Ron had gone and agreed with her, and the two were now always asking if he had decided that he would do it. In the end, he had relented and told them he would, just so they would stop pestering him.

* * *

After potions class one day with the Slytherins, Harry had waited after class for a certain someone. He waited in the shadows as not to be seen. As soon as he saw the familiar flash of beautiful blonde hair he pulled her an empty classroom. What he hadn't been expecting was the ready wand trained at his face.

As soon as Daphne saw who it was though, she lowered it. "Merlin! Potter I almost hexed the living daylight out of you," she exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry" he started, putting his hands in the air "I didn't know how else to get you alone!"

She looked at him with her dazzling blue eyes for a few seconds as if trying to read him, before she finally spoke "listen Potter just because of what happened the other day, doesn't mean you're going to get lucky!" She snapped, as her eyes narrowed and she turned to leave.

"Wait no Daphne that's not what I was doing! Why would you think that?" He questioned "I only wanted the say thank you."

"For what?" She questioned after hesitantly turning back around.

"For helping me out that day, and for helping me see reason. I was clouded with my anger, and you helped me through that, so thank you."

"Well in that case you're welcome," she said, visibly relaxing.

"How did you get your wand up so fast anyway?" He wondered out loud

"You think I don't notice the boys constantly drooling over me? If you haven't noticed I'm in Slytherin house, so I've needed to defend myself quite a few times before. What else would I think after being randomly pulled by some unknown person into an empty classroom?" She retorted.

As realization dawned upon Harry, he said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize, I should've been more mindful."

Daphne internally thought it was so cute how concerned he was. "It's quite alright Potter, now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to my Herbology class." She waved to him as she exited the classroom

"Bye" he answered

As she walked away, she couldn't help but want more of him. She wanted to keep talking to him. "What's happening to me? What's wrong with me?" She thought the herself.


	5. The Malfoy Incident

**A/N Hey guys sorry for the wait! I'm thinking I will have these published on two week intervals. I tried to make this chapter a little longer, so it took a little longer. I know I made Dumbledore severely off canon, because he wasn't really talking to Harry during fifth year, but personally, I hated that, so :/. There are some moderately violent scenes toward the end. Just a warning. Hope you guys enjoy! Keep the reviews coming.**

 **Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters or story belong to me, but JK Rowling**

* * *

Harry was having trouble enjoying his classes so far this year. He mostly looked forward to his time in the room of requirement. Both Ron and Hermione had also progressed in their nightly practice. After classes, they would go up to the seventh floor,  
and spend 3 hours in the room of requirement practicing spells, and dueling. Harry also had started to add a physical element to their practices. He was working out, and his body looked good. Years of Quidditch had done well to his body, and he had  
a well toned body with a six pack of abs.

He had also began to talk to Daphne more and more. When Harry wasn't in the room of requirement, he was usually with her. They would always meet up in the abandoned classroom Harry had first pulled her into. They would just talk. Some days it would be  
about classes, others it would be about how annoying Malfoy was being on that particular day.

"The others in my house are beginning to wonder where I go to after classes," Daphne stated, during one of their many secret rendezvous.

Harry chuckled, "remind me again why we have to keep this," he began, motioning between the two of them, "secret?"

"Because people will flip a shit if they see the Gryffindor Golden Boy talking with a Slimy Slytherin" She answered coolly, "and I wouldn't hear the end of it from the rest of my house"

A poorly suppressed snort came from Harry, as he burst out laughing. "The Gryffindor Golden boy? Really?"

Daphne shot him an icy glare, and responded surprised "don't you know? That's what most people call you in Slytherin!"

"Really?" he asked, with a quizzical look upon his face. He had of course heard most of the insults from the Slytherins, namely Malfoy, but he had never heard of being the Gryffindor Golden Boy before.

"Anyway Potter, Its almost curfew, I better get going. See you in Potions," she said, as she walked towards the door.

"Bye Daphne," he responded, as he slipped under his invisibility cloak. As he walked back to the Gryffindor common room. He pondered his relationship with the Ice Queen. He wasn't going to deny his attraction to the girl. He would be a fool if he tried.  
Most of his worry was how she would react, and he couldn't comprehend the idea of her possibly feeling the same way. "We've only just started getting to know each other..." he thought to himself.

* * *

As Harry entered the common room, he noticed how there was close to nobody left, and he assumed his two best friends had gone to bed. As he shed his invisibility cloak, and started walking across the room to the boys dormitories, he was stopped by a voice  
calling his name.

"Harry! How was your meeting with Daphne?" Hermione called after him, with a playful smirk on her face.

Glancing to his left, Harry noticed Hermione sitting on the couch, with a book in her lap. His face lit up as he started walking towards her. He plopped down next to his friend on the couch, and responded. "How did you know I was with her?"

"Honestly, its quite obvious, to me at least. I'm sure Ronald doesn't know, but you both are constantly stealing glances at each other, in classes, and in the great hall. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where you go"

'Leave it to Hermione to be the one to figure it all out' he thought to himself as a he smirked.

"I might have also borrowed the marauders map..." she stated quietly, as blush painted her cheeks.

Harry burst out laughing, which caused her to hit him multiple times in the arm with her now closed book.

"So you caught me... You won't tell anyone right?" He asked her skeptically.

"Of course! Anyways, do you like her?"

He took a moment to answer. "I don't know 'Mione, to be honest, I know I am attracted to her, but I don't know what to do about it. I don't know if she'll feel the same way, and then there's also the fact that we've just started to get to know one another..."

"Well, I think you should just go for it, I mean worst case scenario she'll just tell you straight up how she feels about you, and you guys can continue being friends. I just want you to be happy!" She said with a smile.

"Thanks 'Mione! What're you reading?" He asked, glancing at the book in her lap.

"Actually this is a spell book I got from the restricted section. I got permission from Professor McGonagall. I figured with Umbridge teaching us nothing, and our practices, we could use t to learn some new spells."

"That'll be useful. Could you bring it to our session tomorrow? I'm gonna head to bed, and you should too!" He responded.

The both of them trudged up their separate stairs and bid each other goodnight, and stepped into their dormitories. Harry fell asleep almost as soon as his head the pillow. He dreamt pleasant dreams of a certain blonde haired Slytherin girl.

* * *

noshade=""

As it turned out, Hermione had been right, the book had been extremely helpful. There were no deadly or fatal spells, but there were many spells which could help in a duel. For instance, the spell _crus crampis_ caused the opponents legs to cramp  
up very tight. Another useful spell they had learned was _virtigen_ which caused the opponent to feel lightheaded or dizzy.

Usually towards the end, the three would have duels. This particular day had Ron and Harry face off. They each took their spots on opposite ends of the mat. Harry clearly far exceeded the other two in skill, so he generally allowed them to throw the first  
spell.

" _Diffindo!"_ Ron yelled

Harry casually batted the spell away with a flick of his wand. He shot a silent tickling spell at Ron, who barely avoided being hit by jumping out of the way last second. Ron retaliated with three stunners, the first two were batted away again by Harry,  
but he had to sidestep the third one, barely avoiding a stunner to the face.

" _Bombarda"_ Harry spat

Ron muttered " _Protego,"_ but was not expecting the overpowered spell from Harry. His overpowered _Bombarda_ shattered Ron's _Protego_ and blew him back a good 5 feet.

Recovering from his fall, Ron got back and shot a silent _virtigen_ at Harry, who nimbly sidestepped the sloppy spell, and threw a silent _stupefy_ back, followed by a _crus crampis._ Ron dodged the stunner, but stepped right into the  
cramping spell, and instantly fell over onto his knees as all the muscles in his legs began to tighten and cramp. He groaned in pain as he tried but failed to stand up once again. Harry had his wand pointed at his head, and they both knew that the  
duel was over. Cancelling his spell on Ron, he gave him a hand getting up.

"Bloody hell mate, I didn't even land a spell on you!" He exclaimed as he got up. Harry smirked back at him.

"That's why you need to practice Ron," he began

Hermione interrupted, "You guys, we should really start heading back, we've been here almost a half hour longer than we usually are, and if Harry wants to make it to his... " she stopped herself.

"Where does Harry need to go?" questioned Ron, as he turned to face his best friend.

Harry flinched under his gaze, but he had had enough of lying to his friends, and looked into his eyes. "I'm going to meet with Daphne Greengrass."

Ron expression changed to one of shock, and surprise. "So you talk to her often? That's great mate, I just hope you're happy."

Harry stared at him with a look of shock on his face. "What? You think I don't approve? You've not been nearly as grouchy as you were in the beginning of the year, and I bet that's because of her. Besides, you just handed my arse back to me on a golden  
platter, I'm sure you'll be able to take of yourself," came the explanation from Ron.

The golden trio began laughing together as they left the room of requirement.

* * *

Harry was already late to his meeting with Daphne. After returning to the common room and showering, he had rushed out and slipped under the invisibility cloak, so he wouldn't get stopped by other random students. After running up three flights of stairs,  
Harry briskly strode down the corridor to their classroom. He stopped abruptly as he heard yelling through one of the doors.

"Stop struggling you bitch! I'm gonna make you mine tonight!"

Harry was enraged as he recognized the voice. It was Malfoy. Still under the invisibility cloak, he slipped into the room and moved closer. What he saw made his blood boil. Malfoy had his shirt unbuttoned, and his pants down. Pinned to the wall with magic  
was Daphne. She had tear tracks running down her cheeks and her shirt looked like it had been ripped off forcefully, and her bra as well, her breasts out in the open. Her blonde hair was messy and all over the place. she opened her mouth to yell,  
but nothing came out. Harry assumed she was had been _silencio_ 'd.

Malfoy was sliding his hands up and down her legs, and was attempting to remove her skirt, which made Daphne kick and struggle even more. Fuming, Harry drew his wand, and still under the cloak yelled out. "Back the fuck away from her Malfoy!"

Startled, Malfoy jumped back, pulling up his pants. "Show yourself Potter!" He drew his wand and started waving it madly about the room.

Taking off his cloak, Harry shot three spells at the ferret. The first being a _stupefy,_ followed by a cutting curse aimed towards the boys genitals. Finally, Harry had shot _gladium iacta,_ conjuring 4 daggers and shooting them all towards  
Malfoy. Using _Protego,_ Malfoy had blocked the stunner, and the cutting curse. The daggers could not be blocked by a simple shield, and all four impacted with his body. One sliced into either shoulder, and two went into his hips, on either  
side. Yelling out in pain, he fell to the ground, on his knees.

Harry walked over to him, and punched him repeatedly in the face. Stopping for a second, he spat, "if I ever see you anywhere near her again, I'll kill you!" Then dealt a hard blow to his stomach and finally finished him off with a final blow to the side  
of the head. Malfoy slumped over, unconscious. Blood pooled around him. Flipping his body over, he aimed his wand at the boys genitals and fired a silent cutting curse, preventing him from ever attempting rape again. After finally finishing with Malfoy,  
he rushed to Daphne.

After cancelling the charm which stuck her to the wall, he cancelled the _silencio._ Immediately, she broke down into sobs onto Harry's shoulder _._

"He came up behind me- I didn't know-" She said in between sobs.

"Shhhhh. It's okay I got you now. You're safe, he can't hurt you anymore." He softly told her. She wept like this for a while, and Harry didn't move. He just soothed her rubbing her back and allowing her to cry her heart out onto his increasingly drenched  
shoulder. After a while of this, Harry noticed she had fallen asleep. Gently, as to not wake her, he picked her up and exited the room. It was then that he realized it was well after curfew.

He carried her to the hospital wing, and laid her gently on the bed.

"Merlin what happened?" came Madame Pomfrey's voice.

"She was nearly raped... Madame Pomfrey, would you please summon the headmaster?"

"Yes of course."

Soon after she summoned him, she had begun to work on Daphne. She had a broken rib, and a broken wrist, as well as many cuts and bruises. Harry sat himself down on a chair and awaited Dumbledore.

It didn't take long for Dumbledore to get to the hospital wing. "Harry my boy, Poppy told me something had happened, and you asked for me. Now tell me, what has happened?" he asked with his usual twinkle in his eyes.

"Daphne Greengrass was nearly raped by Draco Malfoy. I fear what would have happened had I not arrived when I did," Harry stated softly.

The twinkle in his eyes was gone as Dumbledore leaned forward and asked "Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

So Harry told him the story, starting by telling him of his Daphne's strange relationship, and their many meetings. He told Dumbledore about how he had been late, and had heard it happening in the room. He told him about the duel, but kept the details  
to himself. He had done some violent things and he was not proud of it, but for Daphne he would have done it again in a heartbeat. "You'll find his unconscious body back at the very same classroom Professor."

After hearing the story, Dumbledore then went to collect the unconscious body of Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Dumbledore returned with Draco's bloody body floating next to him. As Dumbledore laid his unconscious body on a bed, Madame Pomfrey rushed to attend to his bloody body. Dumbledore, then began to walk towards where I was sitting.  
"Those were some pretty gruesome spells you used Harry. May I ask where you learned them?"

"I found a Potter Spell Book in my family vault Professor..." He responded

"Ah. After hearing your story, I understand why you dueled with Mr. Malfoy, however, I must say that the methods were very violent," Dumbledore stated

"I'm sorry sir, I was very angry when I found out what he was doing. I lost control," Harry said, looking at the ground.

"Very well. It is quite alright. In fact, you did quite a number on his genital area, if I say so myself. Poppy says he will never be able to reproduce and have children."

"Well Professor, he did deserve it. And I wanted to make sure he was never able to do it to anyone else in the future."

At this Dumbledore smiled and exclaimed, "Alas, it is getting very late in the night. I will summon you tomorrow, and we may discuss more, If you wish, that is!"

"That sounds great. Goodnight Professor," Harry said with a wave, as Dumbledore exited the hospital wing.

He sat there a while, just watching Daphne's sleeping body. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, so innocent. He sat there and watched her, while Madame Pomfrey worked on Malfoy. Finally, after a little while, she came to Harry's side.

"A quick dreamless sleep potion for you Mr. Potter, and then its off to bed," She said.

Harry nodded absentmindedly at this, still fixated on Daphne. He had felt so worried, so protective over her.

"You definitely taught Mr. Malfoy a lesson, that's for sure. It'll take a while to heal all the damage you did to him," She started, "And I expect Lucius Malfoy will try some new political nonsense."

This caught his attention. "Sorry about that, Madame Pomfrey," he said with a slight grimace.

After pocketing the potion, he was about to get up and leave, when Daphne stirred in her sleep. "Harry?" she softly asked.

"Hey Daph... How are you doing?" He softly responded, going to her side.

"I'm very tired. Harry... could you... stay with me tonight?" she reluctantly asked, as a blush painted her cheeks.

Harry couldn't help but smile and think how cute she looked. "Of course I can... if that's alright Madame Pomfrey of course," he said, looking hesitantly at the nurse.

"Oh... well... fine, of course," she said with an exasperated sigh.

Harry grinned and pulled his chair closer to Daphne's bed, and grabbed a pillow from another bed to lay his head on. As he sat down, Daphne grabbed his hand and held it tight. "Thank you Harry, I don't know what would have happene-" she started

"Shh, its okay just sleep now," he whispered back.

They both closed their eyes, and it didn't take long for the both of them to fall into a deep sleep, hand in hand, with the dreamless sleep potion laying in his pocket, forgotten.


	6. Truths

**A/N: Hey guys, its been about a month since I last updated. Sorry about that, that's my fault, to be honest it just skipped my mind. Just to be clear, I am not abandoning this story, and I thank all the people who read this. Again, sorry for the wait.**

* * *

Harry woke up to Daphne shaking him awake. He was drenched in sweat. His nightmares hadn't let up, and he would still frequently wake up screaming after dreaming of that fateful night in the graveyard when Cedric had been killed.

Daphne was sitting up on her bed, shaking Harry awake, from his where he laid on his pillow on the side of her bed. His neck was sore, and stiff, from the awkward angle he had slept in. As he rubbed out the sleep from his eyes he looked around the hospital wing. They were alone, except Malfoy, who was still unconscious, and sunlight was streaming in from open windows. Grabbing his wand from the nightstand, he cast a quick _tempus,_ and a breath freshening charm. The time was 10:30, and Harry, was about to panic, when he remembered it was a Saturday, and he didn't have any classes.

It was Daphne who spoke first. "I know I said it last night, Harry, but thank you."

"You don't need to thank me..." he started, but Daphne stopped him by planting a quick kiss on his cheek. His cheek tingled from where her lips met his skin. Dazed, he looked at her awe. She giggled at his reaction.

"You should go, Madame Pomfrey said I'll be out of here in a couple of hours. Your friends are probably worried about you," she said, with a smile still on her face.

Harry nodded dumbly, and with a stupid grin on his face, left the hospital wing without saying a word.

* * *

Harry walked into the great hall for an early lunch, and found Hermione and Ron already there. Hermione looked worried, and he mentally prepared himself for a lecture from her. As soon as she saw him, her expression morphed to one of anger. As he sat down across from them, Ron finally looked up from his food.

"Where have you been?" Hermione growled, "you never came back to the common room last night, we were so worried!"

Harry grimaced, "I'm sorry 'Mione, there was a bit of a... situation... with Daphne last night"

Ron looked up again with a shit eating grin, while Hermione threw him a shocked look. "Harry James Potter! Of all the irresponsible, and idiotic things you have done..." she began, but she was interrupted by Ron.

"Oh give him a break Hermione. Anyways how was it mate?" Ron asked, to which Hermione threw him a glare.

Confused, Harry looked at the both of them, when realization dawned upon him about what they were talking about. "What? NO! Not THAT kind of situation! Bloody Hell! I can't tell you now, I'll tell you after Quidditch Practice," he promised.

Although Hermione was still glaring at him, the answer satisfied her for the time being. It was Ron who spoke up this time. "Did you hear what happened to the ferret, I don't know the exact details, but apparently he was attacked and put in the hospital wing last night."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, obviously piecing the facts together, realizing that Harry had something to do with Malfoy. "I might have had something to do with that, I'll explain it all later mate, but I have to get to practice, and so do you! We have a game against the Puffs in a week," Harry explained.

After the trio finished eating, they headed to the common room. With Harry and Ron changed into their training gear, they bid Hermione goodbye, and left to the pitch.

* * *

The Gryffindor Quidditch team met in the locker room, and soon made their way onto the pitch to begin their practice.

"Alright we'll have Fred and George with Harry, and Me, Katie, and Alicia with Ron," stated Angelina. "We'll split the pitch in half, Fred, George, you'll be trying to hit Harry with the Bludgers, while he's trying to catch the snitch. Us chasers will work on our formations, while Ron will attempt to block all the shots."

Harry was a little worried when he saw the evil smirk that dawned upon both twins. They made their way to their respective sides of the pitch. Harry mounted his Firebolt, and looked at the twins. "Don't worry Harrikins, we'll go easy on you," they teased.

"Catch me if you can," Harry said with a smirk, as he kicked off the ground. The twins followed not 10 seconds afterwards. The first bludger came from under Harry. He deftly spun to the left, and sped forward, as the other one was coming from his right side. The snitch was then released. He watched as it disappeared somewhere on the pitch. All he could do now was avoid the bludgers till he could spot it again. He heard the sound of a bludger being smacked his way. He narrowly escaped being hit right in the side by it. George, or Fred, or one of the twins was circling above him, while the other was nowhere to be found.

He heard the whizzing of another bludger coming from the twin above, and he sped off to the right to avoid it, but had flown right into the second, which hit him in his side. Harry wheezed and doubled over, as the pain from the speeding bludger sunk in. He gasped for air. "That's gonna leave a bruise" he thought to himself. He didn't have time to catch his breath, because another bludger was hurtling towards him. He was unable to get all the way out in time, and was nicked in the ankle. He yelled out in pain, and clenched his teeth and sped off. They twins were now going full speed, and bludgers were coming at him left and right. He cut back and forth, avoiding most of the bludgers. After a few minutes of this, he finally spotted a glint of gold near the hoops. He got lower on his broomstick, and sped in its direction as fast as he could.

The snitch flew wildly as Harry closed in to catch it. One arm was extended, while the other one was on the broom, keeping him steady. The snitch was inches from his outstretched hand, when a bludger hit the back of his broomstick sending him spinning. Just as he was hit, however, his fingers closed around the small golden ball mid-spin, and had caught it. He touched down, in victory, feeling quite proud of himself. It had been a harsh couple hours, and he was thoroughly exhausted. His side ached, and he had to limp off the pitch after the practice was over.

Harry's first stop was the hospital wing. After telling Ron to go on ahead to the common room, he had limped off towards it to get his ankle and ribs checked. He told himself he was going to get himself checked out, but a part of him knew he really just wanted to see Daphne again.

* * *

He opened the door to the hospital wing, and limped in, and sat himself down on a bed when he saw Madame Pomfrey talking to a man and a woman. The woman was beautiful, and had blonde hair, with piercing blue eyes. He thought she looked familiar, but he just couldn't place it. The man had brown hair, and a stern look about his face. His neatly trimmed mustache stopped just outside the corners of his mouth. He noticed both looked extremely concerned.

Harry looked around for Daphne, but couldn't see her on any of the beds. Malfoy was still there however, and was asleep. Harry looked at him in disgust.

"Well speak of the devil! Mr. Potter, I see you once again have found your way here," came the voice of Madame Pomfrey. Following behind her were the couple.

"Quidditch practice," he mumbled, fully aware of her dislike of the sport. "My side and my ankle got hit with bludgers."

She looked at him with concern, "I'll get you fixed in a jiffy, in the mean time, these are the parents of Miss Greengrass. I was just telling them of the events of last night, but I believe you're version would be more accurate," she said.

It clicked then for Harry. He realized why the woman had looked so familiar. Now that he noticed it, she looked strikingly similar to Daphne. It was clear where she had gotten her looks from. "Hello Mr. Potter, My name is Cyrus Greengrass, and this is my wife, Penelope Greengrass. From what Poppy has told us already, thank you for what you did. Like she said, would you mind recounting what happened for us?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you both, Daphne speaks highly of you. And of course, I'll tell you what happened," He stated. He began to explain the whole story, as he had to Dumbledore the previous night, and how he would have to once he went back to the common room,to Ron and Hermione. He told them of their unconventional relationship, and how he had been late to their meeting. Then he recounted his duel with Malfoy, to which her father shook in anger, and glared at the sleeping body of the ferret. Finally, he told them of how he had brought her to the hospital wing. By the end of his story, his injuries felt fine. They thanked him, and he left heading back to the common room.

* * *

Daphne had been let out of the hospital wing earlier that day. Her injuries had healed almost completely. There was just slight discomfort when those areas were touched. Madame Pomfrey had assured her that this would go away by the end of the day. Her parents had come when she was leaving. The headmaster had informed them of the situation, and she had been happy to see them. She was still traumatized, thinking about what could have happened had Harry not been there. Harry. He was all she could think of. She didn't know what was going to happen between them.

She had only told Tracey of their secret friendship.

 _Flashback_

 _Daphne walked into the Slytherin common room after one of her secret meetings with Harry. As she rounded the corner to the girls dormitory, she was stopped by her best friend Tracey Davis. "So... Daphne, who's the mystery you've been shagging after classes?" she asked with a perverted smirk on her face._

 _"Oh fuck off Tracy! I've just been..." she started, trying to think of a valid excuse. when she couldn't think of one, she decided to just tell her the truth. She was her best friend anyways._

 _Grabbing Tracy by the arm, she dragged her into the dormitories quickly. Making sure they were alone, she explained the fact that her and Harry had been meeting. She felt like knocking the growing smirk on Tracey's face off, but kept control._

 _"So do you like him?" She questioned_

 _"I'm not gonna pretend like I don't like him at all, but I don't know if he'll feel the same way," she responded dejectedly._

Tracey had been supportive, but that didn't stop the teasing.

As Daphne walked back to her common room, she realized she would have to explain to Tracey why she had been missing for a whole day. As soon as she stepped in, She was whisked away into their dorm. "Where the hell have you been?" came the voice of Tracey. Although she was very playful, she was also very protective.

"Tracey calm down..." Daphne started, but was cut off.

"You didn't come back after going to meet Potter. Merlin I swear if he did anything to you.."

"No Trace calm down, he saved me..." she started hesitantly. "Malfoy... Malfoy attacked me, tried to rape me..."

Tracey listened on in shock. She listened to the whole story. In the end she went and comforted her best friend.

* * *

When Harry finally got to the common room, he sat down with Ron and Hermione and began his tale. Ron and Hermione listened carefully. He told them about the duel with Malfoy, and he told them all the details. He trusted them more than anyone, so he told them how he had used some of the spells they had learned.

At the end of the story, Hermione was both disgusted at the situation with Malfoy, but happy and proud of what Harry had done. "So is she okay now?"

"Yeah she was in the hospital wing for a while today, but I think she was let out, because when I was there, she wasn't."

The three talked for a bit, when Harry said he wanted to show them something in the room of requirement. The trio walked to the seventh floor, and entered the room. Harry led them through their regular training room, to another room he had created.

As soon as they entered, the first thing they saw was the enlarged portrait of Harry's parents on the wall. Ron and Hermione both gasped at the sight of it, and looked at Harry for some explanation.

"I found in the Potter Vaults the last time I went to Gringotts," He provided. "That's also where I found most of the spell books we've been using. I wasn't able to look through the whole thing last time. Next time we go, you can come along to help," he added, seeing the both their faces light up.

"Why aren't they talking?" asked Ron

"I haven't activated them yet. I don't know what I would say, and I wanted you guys to be there when I did," was his response.

"Well go on then Harry, we're with you," Hermione said in a soft voice, knowing how much this meant to him.

He walked up to the picture, hands trembling, placed his wand up to it, and in a shaky voice said "Activate"

As the two on the portrait stirred, Harry looked back at his two best friends. They both nodded supportively to him and he turned back around.

"James?" came a soft, sweet voice.

"Hey Lils, looks like he finally found us..." came the voice from his father, as the painting stretched its arms.

Taking a deep breath, Harry finally spoke. "Mum? Dad?"

* * *

In Dumbledore's office, the headmaster, sat at his desk, deep in thought. It was time to tell Harry the truth, of why Voldemort had come after him when he was a toddler. He had to prepare him, so that one day, he could fulfill his destiny and defeat the dark lord. He had already failed him and made the mistake of making him live with his Aunt and Uncle. He wasn't going to let it happen again. That's why he was going to let him stay at 12 Grimmauld Place with Sirius this summer.

Dumbledore had a growing suspicion of Voldemort and his Horcruxes. He believed that Voldemort had inadvertently created one that night in Godrics Hollow, and it had latched itself onto Harry. He wasn't sure of it, but if it was true, then he had to act quickly. He had found a goblin ritual that allow him to identify and destroy this foreign soul. He would talk to Harry soon, and explain everything to him. Hopefully, he would not be too angry with him.

* * *

The next couple days went smoothly for Harry. Other than a few glimpses inside and outside of class, he had not seen much of Daphne. It was almost as if she was avoiding him. He didn't know why she was, but he felt like he had done something wrong. After she had given him a kiss at the hospital wing, he had been so happy, but now he was just confused.

Other than Daphne avoiding him, he had had a pretty good week. After activating his parents portrait, he had spent hours, sitting and talking to them. He filled them in on the past 15 years of his life, all his years at Hogwarts, and all his adventures. He couldn't have been happier, when he was with them. He wanted to tell Sirius, Moony, and Dumbledore, but he couldn't bring Sirius into the castle, so he decided to surprise both him and Moony during the winter holiday.

DADA class was not only getting increasingly useless, the Umbitch was finding irrelevant ways to bring him in for detention. The scars on the back of his hand had stopped healing, and he had seriously thought of taking it up with the headmaster, like Hermione had advised. The Defense club that both her and Ron had suggested was also something Harry was thinking of starting up. Even if he could get rid of Umbridge, he would still want to educate the others who wanted it on how to defend themselves properly. He didn't think just the class was good enough. They had to know how to fight to protect themselves, and they had to know what they were up against.

The conversation came up in the common room that evening when Harry and Hermione were studying, and Ron was playing chess with Dean.

"Hermione, you know the defense club you suggested, I'm planning on starting it up. How should I go about it?" he had asked.

"Well, to begin with, you should probably talk to Dumbledore about it, so we won't get in trouble if we get caught. Then we would need representatives from each house to spread the word. We could probably use Luna from Ravenclaw, Susan from Hufflepuff, and Daphne from Slytherin."

At hearing Daphne's name, Harry let out a scoff. "Yeah if she would even talk to me," he mumbled under his breath.

Hermione looked at him quizzically, "you should talk to her you know... maybe she's embarrassed."

Harry hadn't thought of it like that. "Thanks 'Mione! Ill talk to the headmaster and Daphne soon then." he said as he went back to reading his Transfiguration textbook.

* * *

The next morning was a slow one for Harry. He had been up until midnight studying and completing his transfiguration essay. As such, he was groggy when getting out of bed in the morning. He stumbled his way into the shower, after waking Ron, and slowly made his way down to the common room. There, he sat on the couch, waiting for both his friends. In a matter of minutes, they both were down as well. Together, they proceeded to the Great Hall.

After a quick breakfast, the trio headed to their first class of the day, transfiguration. Over the course of the year, Harry had greatly improved in all of his class, but he had made the most significant improvement in transfiguration, charms, and potions. However in potions, it made no difference, because Snape was a greasy haired git, as always. Professor McGonagall was the most pleased with his new attitude and work in her class. He had quickly become on of the best in the class.

This particular morning not one Harry's best classes. He had fallen asleep, and Professor McGonagall had woken him up with an angry look in her face. She had asked him to stay after class. He cursed silently.

After everyone had left, McGonagall had called him upto her desk. "Relax Mr. Potter, you are not in trouble, however I suggest that you never fall asleep in my class again. You have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore today at 6 PM. the password is 'licorice.' Do not be late."

Harry understood, and with a nod, said "Thank you Professor." He left the classroom.

Ron and Hermione were waiting for him outside. "How much detention did you get mate?" Ron asked.

"Surprisingly, none, she just told me I had meeting with the headmaster tonight." he said with a sigh of relief.

Hermione perked up at this. "you can ask him about the defense club then!"

Harry nodded in acknowledgement.

* * *

After eating lunch, Harry excused himself to use the men's room. He walked out of the great hall, and made his way to the restroom. After completing his business, he exited the room, with his bag, prepared to go the Herbology, when he saw a glimpse of blonde hair he knew only could belong to one person. He chased after it, till he got to an empty corridor, and saw her walking the other direction.

No matter what, he needed to talk to Daphne. He chased after her, and called her name. She turned around and saw him walking briskly towards her. She turned and went into the nearest door she could find. Harry followed her inside, to find her inside standing at the end of the classroom.

"Hey Daph... How are you? I mean after what happened..." Harry began

She didn't look at him at first, but when she did, she had her ice queen mask set on her face. "It doesn't concern you Potter!" she snapped.

Harry was taken aback by her harsh tone. He definitely thought he had done something wrong now, he just couldn't understand what it was. "What...?"

"Do you have a hearing problem? I said it doesn't concern you, so leave me alone!"

Now Harry was getting a little mad. He had saved her, and he had invested so much time for her, now she was treating him like trash. "Are you kidding me? I did so much for you! I saved you from that git, and did things I'm ashamed of FOR YOU! I guess everybody was right when they told me not to get close to you, you really are an _Ice Queen_ " He yelled. After saying his piece, he turned and stormed out of the room. He didn't see her mask slip, and pain flood her eyes.

As soon as he had slammed the door, her eyes had begun to water, and tears fell down her cheeks.

* * *

 **A/N: I know things are very different in this story, and things are moving quite fast, but I think it should be fine. Personally I don't like fics with a manipulative or evil Dumbledore, so I kind of changed him to be the best version of himself in my opinion.  
** **Up next: Meeting with Dumbles, Formation of the DA, and more Harry/Daphne drama. Aftermath of Malfoy Incident, and his consequences. Stay Tuned!**


	7. Revelations & Quidditch

**A/N: Hey guys I felt kind of bad for making you wait so long for the last update, so I tried my hardest to have this one up pretty fast. I also received some reviews about wishing the chapters were longer. I have been trying, and have tried to increase at lest a thousand words each chapter. If you compare the last one and the first chapter, you'll definitely see significant difference from my first 600 some word chapter, to the last 3,800 word chapter. I will continue to try to make them longer. Anyways, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Harry was briskly walking across the corridor to the gargoyle statue on the third floor. As he got nearer, he began to think on the last couple of days. His argument with Daphne had left him confused and angry. He couldn't fathom a possible reason why she had given him such mixed signals. She had given him a kiss, and then the next time they had talked, she had been so cold towards him.

As he replayed their encounter over and over in his head, he almost did not notice that he was at the gargoyle entrance. Finally snapping out of his thought, he looked up and spoke the password. "Licorice," he said, loud and clear.

Almost at once, the gargoyle sprung aside, revealing the spiral staircase that led up to the headmasters office. Slowly, he climbed up the stairs until he was standing in front of the great oak doors. After knocking, he heard the approval to come in. Slowly he opened the door to find the Dumbledore sitting at his desk, calling him inside.

"Harry my boy, do come in. Can I offer you a Lemon Drop?" he inquired

Shaking his head, Harry said "No thank you Professor"

Taking a seat across from him, he looked up expectantly at his mentor. "I assume you are wondering what you are here today for Harry. The truth is, I have been keeping you in the dark about many things, and for this, I am deeply sorry. I did what I felt was necessary for you to have a normal childhood. Now I feel I have failed in that aspect as well."

Harry's expression changed to one of excitement. He was finally going to hear the truth. He had always known that the headmaster was hiding things from him, but he had always trusted the man, so he had let it be. "Professor there is no need to be sorry, I trust you with my life, and I am sure whatever you did, you did for a reason."

"Very well then. Let me start at the beginning. Years ago a prophecy was made about you and Lord Voldemort. The exact lines of that prophecy were as follows; _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_ Dumbledore finished.

Harry's mind was swimming. He understood now why Dumbledore hadn't told him sooner. He still had questions, but before he could voice them, he was interrupted.

"This prophecy was made by Professor Trelawney, when she first applied for a teaching position. Unfortunately, the prophecy was heard by a... death eater..." Dumbledore stated hesitantly, "who then told the Dark Lord himself. Fortunately he was only able to hear half of it."

Silently, Harry's mind was working. This prophecy was the reason his parents were dead. It was the reason Voldemort was always after him. He was the only one who could defeat Voldemort. That had been his destiny from the very beginning. Then he thought of something.

"Professor, is it possible the prophecy is not about me? Neville was also born at the end of July," he questioned

"Ah, but you see Harry, you are forgetting the part of the prophecy which states the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. He chose to come after you that night at Godrics Hollow. By giving you that scar he..."

"marked me as his equal." Harry finished as realization dawned upon him. "So, in the end, I have to be the one to defeat him? It's either him or me?" Harry asked with a look of defeat on his face

"Yes Harry, but tell me, in your heart, you have always known this. Have you not? Tell me, wouldn't you have ultimately faced the man who murdered your parents?"

Harry nodded slowly. His heart was beating fast now. It was true. Somewhere in him, he had always known he would face off with Voldemort in the end. The prophecy provided him a reason as to why the Dark Lord had come after him. Thinking now, he realized how similar him and Neville really were. In fact, Neville's situation could have been even worse.

Neville's parents had been tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. If anything, he had a constant reminder of his parents. They were still alive, but couldn't even recognize him. On top of that, Neville had always been looked down upon by others. His grandmother was also not supportive of him. Suddenly, Harry felt bad about how he had ignored Neville the past four years. It was true, Neville had grown incredibly since first year. Harry made a silent vow to talk to him about all this. He had the right to know.

Finally, Harry asked the question that had been on his mind since Dumbledore had told him the prophecy. "Professor, who was the death eater who told Voldemort the prophecy?"

Hesitating greatly, the old professor finally brought himself to answer. "Harry, you must understand that at the time, he was greatly misguided. It was Professor Snape who told the Dark Lord the prophecy."

Harry was silent for a long while. Anger was boiling inside him. That greasy-haired bastard had been cruel to him all these years. Now Harry found that he was the one who had gotten his parents killed. Then in a low voice, Harry began to speak. "That son of a bitch..."

His voice soon began to get increasingly higher until he was practically yelling. "That BASTARD IS THE REASON MY PARENTS ARE DEAD! HE TREATS ME LIKE SHIT AND HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS!"

"Harry please calm down. I understand you are angry, but please control yourself... " Dumbledore began, but Harry's bellowing cut him off.

"AND YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW ALL THESE YEARS AND YOU JUST LET IT HAPPEN! SO DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! DON'T!"

With that final shout, a shockwave erupted from Harry, crashing into the things in the room, throwing Dumbledore back in his chair, and breaking numerous objects in the office. Afterwards, Harry slumped back in his chair.

"M'Sorry Professor..." came the muttered apology from him soon after the anger had worn off. "I lost control. I know you weren't at fault."

"Oh its all fine my boy. I understand why you are angry, but as soon as Severus found out what the Dark Lord was planning to do, he pleaded with him to show mercy on you and your family. His pleas were not listened to, and that day, he turned a spy for me in Voldemorts ranks. Since that day, he has been on our side," Dumbledore explained.

Still, the anger at Snape would not go away so easily. The man had brought such pain into his life. But Harry was truly sorry for his outburst against the headmaster, and once again spoke up. "I really am sorry headmaster, I didn't mean to break your things."

"No worries," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Nothing some magic won't fix," and with a wave of his wand, Dumbledore returned everything to its original place, and mended all the broken items. "Now Harry, that you know of the prophecy, there are some other things that you need to know. To begin with, you need to prepare for a fight against Lord Voldemort. For this reason, I want to begin giving you lessons, twice a week. I know you and your friends, Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger already train daily, but I hope you will be able to find time for this as well."

At the mention of private lessons with the headmaster, Harry's eyes lit up. His mind began to wonder what they would learn. Then he began to think of the defense club. "Professor, It would be my privilege to learn from you. I do have a couple questions of my own, as well as some things I need to talk to you about before we continue. First off, I believe I need to bring to your attention a certain problem in the school. _Professor_ Umbitch... I mean Umbridge" Hastily correcting himself, "has employed the use of a strange object in her detentions with me. I don't believe it is legal. In my detentions, I write lines with a strange quill. It uses my own blood professor..."

Dumbledore's face paled, and his twinkle was gone, and it was replaced by anger. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I assure you it will be dealt with. The artifact which you describe is a Blood Quill, which is indeed illegal."

After an indication to continue from Dumbledore, Harry brought up his idea for the defense club. "Headmaster, I want to create a club after classes, to teach the other students how to defend themselves. I feel it would be beneficial to them to know how to protect themselves and their loved ones."

"A brilliant idea Harry. And I daresay Ms. Granger had a role in its creation," he said with a smile. "I believe that would indeed be beneficial. You now have my official authorization to start your club. I understand you are already using the Room of Requirement for your individual training. Feel free to continue using it for this club as well. Is that all?"

Harry answered with a nod, and Dumbledore began speaking again. "I have come up with a theory, although I do not know if it is true, I have strong suspicion. Tell me Harry, have you ever heard or a Horcrux?"

Frowning, Harry tried to think off a time he had heard of the term before. After concluding he had never heard of it before, he admitted so to Dumbledore.

"As I expected. A Horcrux is a very vile and dark object. Essentially it is part of a wizards soul. A Horcrux is a part of somebodies soul trapped within another object. While a Horcrux is used, one can not really die. The act of creating a Horcrux generally involves committing a murder. It is my belief that Voldemort not only created a Horcrux, but multiple. I am unsure as to how many he has created."

Hearing this explanation, Harry looked at Dumbledore in shock. Dumbledore then continued on. "I first got suspicious when you brought me Tom Riddle's diary at the end of your second year."

"Are you saying that the diary was a Horcrux?" Harry asked

"It is my belief, yes," was the reply that came from the headmaster.

"So we have to destroy all these Horcruxes before we can actually defeat him?"

The headmaster nodded his head gravely. "Of course this is just a theory, but there is more troubling news."

Mentally preparing himself for another shocking revelation, Harry nodded for him to continue.

"On the subject of Horcruxes, it is my belief that you, Harry, are a Horcrux yourself. I believe that on the night Voldemort came to kill you, your mother threw herself between you and him, providing a protection around you, making him unable to harm you. So when he attempted to kill you, his spell backfired and ripped his soul out of his body. That piece of his soul then latched itself onto the nearest living thing it could find..."

"Me..." Harry finished. His face pale, and his body trembling.

"That is why you can speak to snakes, and have those visions of Voldemort. I believe a piece of his soul lives inside of you," Dumbledore stated gravely. "But, I have found a goblin ritual which I believe will be able to remove the Horcrux from inside you without doing you harm. So, during the winter holidays, we will go and get this procedure done."

Still trembling, and in shock, Harry nodded dumbly. "I understand this is a lot to take in Harry, but remember, this will be out of you before you know it. I know you have been told much information tonight, but it was necessary"

Finally coming out of his daze, Harry spoke in a soft voice, "Thank you Professor, for telling me the truth. I know why you kept it from me. If that is all you have to tell me, may I be excused? I need some time to process this information."

"Of course Harry. I bid you a goodnight!" Dumbledore said

Bidding the headmaster a goodnight, Harry turned and left his office. Harry finally knew the truth. On the way back to the common room, he thought over everything he had learned that night. One thing was clear, he was going to have to kill Voldemort, and he was going to have to be ready when the time came. For now, he would go back to the common room, and tell Hermione and Ron what he had just learned.

* * *

The rest of the week flew by fast. After listening to everything Harry had told them, both his friends had been in shock, but they hadn't treated him any differently. They had been really supportive of him, and had assured him they would be with him every step of the way. Pretty soon it was Friday evening, and Gryffindor had a quidditch match against HufflePuff. Harry and Ron had both left for the locker rooms. After getting changed up into their quidditch gear, Angelina had given them a pep talk.

"Oi! I know I'm not good at giving pep talks... but lets go out there and kick some arse! Fred, George, keep those bludgers aimed towards the chasers, and only focus on their seeker if they've seen the snitch. I know we'll win this!"

A snort of laughter came from one of the twins, and soon, both were in a fit of full blown laughter, causing Angelina to throw one of her gloves at them. They had fifteen minutes before the match started. Harry wasn't nervous, but Ron was shaking.

"Relax mate, just play your best, you know you've got it. The only thing blocking you is yourself," Harry said, attempting to calm him down.

Ron gave him a nod and a thumbs up, and soon it was time to go out onto the pitch.

As they lined up in their respective spots, Fred and George patted Harry on his back, and Harry gave the two a thumbs up. Finally after what felt like hours, they heard the sound of Lee Jordan's voice yelling "and here's the mighty team of the GRYFFINDOR!"

With a swoosh, the whole team flew out onto the pitch, doing a full lap around before each going to their spots. Harry took his spot high up in the air, where he had a view of everything.

The snitch as released first. Harry watched as it flew somewhere onto the pitch. He watched it until he lost track of it. Looking down again, he saw the bludgers being released. Finally, the Quaffle was thrown into the air by Madame Hooch, indicating the start of the game. Angelina swooped down and grabbed the Quaffle almost immediately. Harry watched in joy as she quickly tossed it to Alicia, who then threw it over the opposing teams chaser, to Katie Bell. Katie flew it near the goals, until she was surrounded by all three of the Hufflepuff chasers. Throwing it in between them (they all made a poor attempt to intercept it) to Angeline who faked throwing it into the right most hoop, messing up the keeper, and threw it into the middle one for the first ten points of the game. Harry cheered up in the air, having watched the whole situation.

"WHOOOOO! AND THE FIRST TEN POINTS GO TO GRYFFINDOR! WHAT A NICE PLAY BY THOSE SMOKING HOT GRYFFINDOR CHA..." Lee started

"MR. JORDAN!" came the stern voice of Professor McGonagall

"Sorry Professor... Anyway, back to the game. The Hufflepuffs have the quaffle, and Zacharias Smith tries to pass to his teammate... OOOH BUT IT'S INTERCEPTED BY ALICIA SPINNET!"

Harry watched on feeling quite happy with his teams performance. Angelina had specifically told him to let them rack up points before looking for the snitch. Harry watch for fifteen more minutes, watching his team score five more goals, making the score 60-0, before he saw the first sign of trouble. Zacharias Smith sped across the field. He faked a pass to Cadwallader, which both Katie and Angelina fell for leaving him the wide open pitch, for Alicia as all the way on the other side. He barely dodged the bludger Fred sent towards him, and flew right to the goal posts. Throwing the Quaffle right at the middle hoop. Ron, anticipating a fake, threw himself to the right, barely hanging on to his broom, and missed it.

"LOOKS LIKE A BLUNDER FROM GRYFFINDOR'S KEEPER RON WEASLEY, AND NOW THE SCORE IS 60-10!"

Harry cursed under his breath, and flew down near Ron, who was yelling at himself and berating himself. "Stupid git, should've blocked that!"

"Ron! Stop! It's fine, it was only one goal, it happens, just get it next time! You got this!" Harry said, reassuring his best mate.

Sure enough the advice worked, and Ron blocked 8 shots in a row. Pretty soon, the score was 110-20. The Hufflepuffs were doing terribly. Harry decided he would finally start looking for the snitch. That as until he saw the second sign of trouble. Cadwallader had the Quaffle tucked under one arm, and was racing towards the goal. Angelina was at his side, trying to wrestle the Quaffle from his grasp. The Hufflpuff beaters shot a bludger at her, hitting her square in the jaw, knocking her off her broom. Harry raced to her falling body. He drew his wand and shot a cushioning charm at the ground, and cast a _Wingardium Leviosa_ at her body. He carefully levitated her unconscious body to the ground, before racing back into the air. He was happy to say that Fred and George were mercilessly shooting bludger after bludger at the beater who had incapacitated their captain.

Harry saw Cadwallader still heading to their goal. Seeing nobody there to stop him except Ron, Harry raced towards him on his Firebolt. He acted on impulse, and from above, dove his broom right in front of him, startling the chaser, and causing him to drop the Quaffle, which was then picked up by Alicia.

"LOOKS LIKE A NICE MOVE GRYFFINDOR STAR SEEKER, SCARING THE SHI..."

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry... POTTER HELPS RETAKE THE QUAFFLE, LEADING TO ANOTHER GRYFFINDOR SCORE MAKING THE SCORE 120-20"

Once again Harry began searching for the snitch. He flew high in the air, and began to look around the pitch. He noticed the sixth year seeker following him through the corner of his eyes. After a couple minutes, he finally saw a glint of gold, hovering near the stands. Racing towards it on his Firebolt, he knew he had the Hufflepuff seeker beat. There was no way he would be able to catching up to him, even on his Nimbus 2000. That was at least until the beaters threw two bludgers at him.

Harry narrowly dodged one of them, which blew a hole right into the stands. However he didn't get so lucky with the second one, which clipped him right on the elbow, which emitted a loud crack. Harry's body lurched forward, as pain seeped in. The momentary distraction had allowed the Hufflepuff seeker to get in the lead. Seeing this, Harry got lower on his broom, and zoomed in their direction.

'Where are the twins?' he thought frantically. His silent question was answered when he saw a bludger collide with the Hufflepuffs broomstick, knocking it off course. However, he was still closer to the snitch. Harry decided to try something dangerous. Flipping himself upside down, he flew under the Hufflepuff, and got in the lead. Reaching his arm upwards, towards the snitch, he was about to grab it, when it jerked out of the way, and flew even lower. Still upside down, and flying belly up, he propelled himself towards it. He was right under the Hufflepuff, and they both were making grabs for the snitch.

The other seeker, seeing Harry upside down, tried to kick at him, but Harry had prepared for this and moved out of the way in time. They were about ten feet off the ground now, and the snitch was flying madly, trying to escape. Harry's fingers were inches away. His grip on his broom began to loosen. As he finally lost his grip on his broom his other hand closed around the golden snitch.

Tumbling down, Harry's body twisted as it fell. His victory short lived, as he impacted the ground, he landed halfway on his head, and halfway on his shoulder. He felt a sickening crunch, as his body thudded against the ground. Flipping over onto his back, Harry held up the snitch, with a smile on his dazed face. His vision clouded, and he saw the faint silhouettes of people clambering around him.

"WHAT A CATCH! HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH IN THE CRAZIEST WAY I HAVE EVER SEEN!"

Harry felt himself being levitated, as his body felt weightless. His vision faded into black nothingness, and then he knew no more.

* * *

Watching the Quidditch Game, Daphne had been so scared. She had seen how Harry had played. It had scared her, and when he had fallen, she had almost started crying, breaking her Ice Queen mask. She had been able to control herself though, but had immediately gone to the Hospital wing to see him.

It was killing her inside. The way she had treated him had hurt her more than it had hurt him. He needed to know the truth. He deserved to know the truth. Pretending to be cold to him was one of the hardest things she had done. She could only imagine how he had felt.

Daphne had told Tracey about what had happened between them. She had been angry. Her exact words had been "How can you be so stupid?"

She had been thinking about only Harry for the past few days now, and she had decided enough was enough. He deserved to know the truth. Especially after she had led him on like she did. Especially after he had saved her life.

* * *

When Harry woke up, he found himself in the Hospital Wing. His eyes were groggy, and he couldn't make out anything. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he looked up at the white ceiling. It seemed to be daytime as there was sunlight streaming in through the window. He groaned when he tried to sit up. His head pounded in his skull, as if trying to break it open and escape. Looking around, he still couldn't see anything, his vision was blurry. Then he realized he still hadn't put his glasses on.

Reaching into the nightstand, he blindly fumbled around till he found his glasses. Putting them on and looking around again, he finally noticed a certain blonde haired girl who was in the same room.

Daphne.

She was asleep on a chair, with her head resting on a pillow at the foot of his bed. Much like he had been more or less a week ago. She looked so peaceful, and cute, he couldn't help but smile. Then he remembered their conversation the previous week. He remembered her cold tone and harshness

His body ached in so many places. He tried to remember what happened. Finally after a couple minutes, he remembered all about the quidditch game, and his fall. It was then that Madame Pomfrey came into the room.

"Mr. Potter, how is it you manage to always find yourself back in my hospital wing?" She asked sternly.

With a sheepish grin on his face, he responded "it's a talent Madame Pomfrey."

With a huff, she began to fill him in on the details. "Really, of all the reckless things you could do, that was some of the most dangerous flying I have seen!" She reprimanded. She almost reminded him of a fussy mother. "Your left shoulder was dislocated, and you managed to break all the bones on your right arm from your elbow down. On top of that you had a pretty serious concussion."

"What day is it today Madame Pomfrey?" He inquired.

"Today is Saturday, it's currently 11 AM. You spent the night here, and you'll spend another tonight as well. You'll be discharged tomorrow morning, if I see you're good enough to go," was her response.

Harry groaned again. "Oh quit your moaning!" She grumbled, and then left the room.

Harry noticed Daphne had begun to stir. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around, wondering where she was. After a moment of two, she finally realized. Her blue eyes met Harry's bright green ones. Immediately she sat up straight and looked at him.

"Sorry..." She muttered.

"What do you want?" Harry asked coolly.

She shuddered at his cold tone. "Harry I want to talk to you. I need to explain myself."

"I thought you explained yourself pretty well to me last time we talked. You want me to leave you alone right? Don't worry I got the message."

"No. I'm sorry for that. It's just... well I didn't want to hurt you." she said

"What?"

"I just... I feel like I need to tell you the truth. When I was young, around one years old, my grandfather set up a marriage contract to Theodore Nott... I only just found out about it this past summer when my grandfather passed away. My father was furious, but it doesn't look like there is any way to get past it. If I don't go through with this I would lose my magic. That's the reason that after you saved me, that morning in the hospital wing, I felt like I led you on, I let my emotions get the better of me, but after, i felt really guilty. I didn't want to lead you on, and then hurt you, because I know we could never have anything together..." she finished slowly

"I.. I don't know what to say..." Harry stammered. Taking a couple second, he finally came up with a good response. "Listen Daph... You should have just told me... I'm not gonna pretend that I don't have any feelings towards you."

"I know Harry, I just didn't want to hurt you, and I thought if you hated me, then it would be easier for you. I really don't want to be some pureblooded trophy wife for Nott. He'll just become a Death Eater like his father."

"Is that something common in the wizarding world? Marriage Contracts?" he asked with somber eyes

"Yes, most of the bigoted pureblood families do it. My parents swore never to form a contract, but my grandfather had it done in secret."

Harry let this sink in for a while. He had not known that this was a thing. He silently vowed he would do whatever he could to help Daphne. All had been forgiven in his eyes. He understood why she had done it. He had a lot of work to do over the winter holidays.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, like I said, I felt bad, so here's a second update. I did change some things from the previous chapter, like how she felt vulnerable. I took that out. I didn't like how it was flowing in the story. Anyways, I'm having Harry progress faster in this story. I think that the next chapter should take place during the winter holiday, and it should be pretty long as well. This chapter was around 4,800 so like I said, I am trying to make my chapters longer. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews! Till next time!**


	8. Defensive Clubs & Girls

**A/N: Hey Guys! I've been on Spring Break, and I finally got some free time after traveling a little bit, and thought I would write you guys a chapter. Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

It had been a few days since the Quidditch match, and the winter holidays were right around the corner. Harry had been discharged on Sunday morning, and had spent the rest of the day in the company of his two best friends. They had of course visited him in the hospital wing, and they had talked about the situation with Daphne. Hermione of course was mollified at the very thought of a marriage contract. Ron, on the other hand was not as surprised.

"It's very common among older 'pureblooded' families," he explained

Hermione, keeping the same horrified expression replied, "that's barbaric! Not being able to choose who you are going to spend the rest of your life with is horrible!"

Looking on sadly, "That's just what some families do. What you have to understand is that marriages for these families aren't about love, they're about power, and producing heirs" Ron exclaimed.

Letting the conversation drop, the two had left the hospital wing, and headed back to the common room.

When Harry got permission from Madame Pomfrey to leave, early Sunday morning, he headed straight for the common room. It was 10 in the morning, and as usual, he found Hermione in the common room, reading a history book. Looking up at him, she smiled. "Ron's just getting ready, I sent for Seamus to wake him up, he should be coming down soon."

"Great! We can go get some late breakfast then! I'm famished," Harry explained. "afterwards, I want to go to the Room of Requirement. I've missed three days of training, and the two of you are welcome to join, as usual"

"Of course, at least I will, and I'm sure Ronald will as well!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Ron had entered the common rooms, looking tired, even after showering.

"Hullo Ron!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully

"Morning," came the groggy reply.

The trio left to the great hall together, and Harry explained the plan for the day. Ron of course agreed to come train with them. After hastily forking down his breakfast, Harry excused himself to the lavatory. On the way out, he caught Daphne's eyes and gave her a large grin, to which she gave him a slight smile back. After all, she still needed to maintain her Ice Queen persona.

Harry exited the great hall, and saw Draco Malfoy, who gave him his customary sneer, but behind it, Harry could make out a little bit of... fear. The ferret had been discharged the same day as Harry. It had taken a while to finally heal the wounds, especially because of the daggers he had been impaled with. The spell not only conjured the daggers, but the wounds were increasingly hard to close.

Dumbledore had assured Harry that there would be harsh consequences for the incident with Malfoy which had occurred, and Harry was eagerly looking forward to it.

After returning o the great hall and meeting his friends again, the three proceeded to the seventh floor. Once they had entered the Room of Requirement, Harry turned to Hermione.

"Say, 'Mione, did you talk to people about the defense club?" I'm hoping to have a meeting with them before the winter hols, and then we can begin lessons after."

"Yeah Harry, I spoke with both Luna and Susan, and they told me they would talk to others in they're house. I've already spoken with the people in our house, and I reckon most of them will show up. I was even able to talk to Daphne. We bumped into each while you were unconscious in the hospital wing."

Harry nodded slowly, listening to everything.

"I've told them to meet outside the Room of Requirement on Wednesday at around 5:30 if that's good with you," she continued

"Perfect! You're brilliant 'Mione! Thanks!"

Hermione blushed under the praise.

Pretty soon, the three had set up for their training. Harry opened up his family spell book. So far they had learned a multitude of lethal and useful spells from it. Opening to the section of the book which dealt with spells against a mass number of enemies, he began reading.

" _The following spells are useful when surrounded by a large number of enemies. Useful in a battle,_ " Harry spoke

The first spell they practiced was a spell that formed a bubble like shield around the person, or people, and expanded rapidly, creating a type of shockwave, throwing back all nearby enemies, all the while, protecting the caster from any unfriendly spell fire. The incantation was _clypeus crescentem._

They took turns practicing, but since there were no real enemies, they took turns standing in the middle of the mat, and using the spell. Harry went first.

His wand in his hand, he yelled out " _clypeus crescentem_ " pointing it at the floor. A weak red shield flickered around him for a mere moment before dissipating.

Disappointed, Harry tried once more. This time, he pointed his wand skywards, and yelled the incantation. The result was a weak red shockwave, extending all directions from him. It reached Ron and Hermione, but luckily, it was weak enough that it only knocked them down. at full force, it would have thrown them back powerfully, and most probably hurt them.

Satisfied, Harry allowed the other two to take their turns. After going in a rotation and practicing for a good half an hour, the three were already exhausted. Harry had managed to get the spell down pretty good, and so had Ron. Hermione was still having trouble putting power behind her wave. They still had much practice to perfect it, but for now, they were content.

Now, they practiced offensive spells on the practice spells on training dummies, and finally finished with physical training, in which they would generally spar each other. Harry had understood the importance of being able to fight physically. He was farther advanced than the other two in this aspect.

Finally, the trio ended the practice session with their customary duels. Today, Harry dueled Hermione.

Both of them took their spots on the dueling mat. Ron took a break, after just finishing a duel with Harry. The two o the mat bowed low, and then got into their dueling stances.

Harry allowed Hermione to throw the first spell. Surprisingly, she sent a silent spell. Harry could easily recognize it as _petrificus totalus,_ but it was impressive nonetheless. Harry casually backhanded the spell away, and threw his own silent stunner at her.

Hermione threw up a shield at the last minute, and shot three successive stunners all aimed at Harry's head. Prepared for something like this, Harry narrowly sidestepped all three. He wordlessly shot a tripping jinx at her, and she was unable to identify it, and conjured a boulder to intercept it. Harry was both proud and impressed at her quick thinking. It was what he had taught her. "If you were not able to identify a spell coming at you, you should try to summon something to intercept it, because you never know if a shield will block it or not." he had told her.

The boulder intercepted the jinx, but nothing happened to it, and it just absorbed it. Thinking quickly, Hermione banished the boulder in Harry's direction. This was a little hard, even for Harry. He narrowly missed being hit in the head, as he ducked under it, and quickly shot off an _impedimenta_ at Hermione.

She easily sidestepped it, and returned fire, yelling out " _avis._ " The conjured birds then attacked Harry, after Hermione calmly stated, " _Oppugno_ "

Harry yelled _Evanesco_ in panic, and the birds disappeared with a poof. Harry shot a silent _incarcerous_ at her, which she tried to sidestep, but was unable to do so. Ropes tied her up in place, and her wand clattered to the ground.

Harry approached her with an evil smirk dawning upon his face. Slowly he pointed his wand at the now tied up Hermione.

"Harry James Potter don't you dare try anythi..." Hermione tried to begin, but was cut off

Harry had calmly stated " _Rictumsempra_ " the tickling charm, which caused Hermione to go into a fit of giggles.

"Harry... Please... stop... please!" she squealed in between giggles.

Laughing, Harry cast the counter curse, and sat next to the now untied Hermione. The two were breathing rather heavily, after the duel, which had been pretty exhausting. Ron soon came and joined them on the other side of Hermione, and the three sat together, in silence, just enjoying spending time in each others company.

* * *

The next day was Monday, and classes resumed. The first thing Harry noticed was the absence of the Umbitch. He had DADA class today, so he wondered who would be taking over her class. He of course knew the reason why she was absent. Dumbledore had obviously taken action about the blood quill incidents in his detentions.

The day had been a quiet one. He had History of Magic first period, for an hour and a half. Professor Binns drawled on and on about Goblin Rebellions, and Gork the Great. He knew Hermione, would be taking noes, so he took the opportunity to drift off into a deep sleep.

He was roughly awoken at the end of the period by Ron, who was shaking him awake. The next period they had was potions. Harry's most dreaded class. Not because he didn't like the subject, he enjoyed potions. It was Snape that made his days miserable.

Harry hadn't seen Snape after Dumbledore had told him the truth, and he had yet to confront his potions teacher about it. Although Dumbledore had implored him to see past what Snape had done, Harry was not able to just let go of what the greasy haired git had done. He'd played a major role in how shitty his life had turned out. And he was going to pay.

Harry had dealt with shit from Snape for five years now. It was going to change today. He was going to knock that slimy wanker down a couple pegs, and make sure he would never trouble him again.

As Harry walked to the dungeons with his friends, he thought of different ways as to how he would go about this. He was fuming by the time he had reached the classroom. He took his customary seat next to Ron, and brought out all his materials. The class waited, not so eagerly, for the professor to begin the class.

The bat swiftly entered the classroom and began drawling in his annoying voice. "Today we will be brewing a deflating potion. I doubt any of you dimwits will get it correctly," he said motioning to the gryffindors, "but the instructions are on page one hundred and thirty two. You may begin"

Just like that, the students began opening their books. Harry went up to the front of the classroom to the materials cabinet to pick up what he needed. As he approached, he caught Snape's eye, and shot him a glare full of hatred.

Returning to his seat, Harry began his potion. Carefully adding his salamander skin, and carefully cut up rat tail, Harry stirred the potion three times in the clockwise direction. It soon became aa light green color.

Soon, the class was coming to an end. So far Snape had not started any problems, which Harry found increasingly surprising.

At the end of the period, Harry went upto the front desk to hand in his potion. He mentally prepared himself for what was to come as Snape carefully surveyed his potion. "Abysmal, a Dreadful, at best. Much like your father," Snape drawled. "Stay after class, Potter"

Controlling his anger, Harry silently walked back to his seat. He didn't want to create a scene in front of so many people. Gritting his teeth, he told Hermione and Ron he would meet them in Defense class. After his other classmates had cleared out of the room, Harry approached Snape's desk. Before the git had a chance to speak, Harry cut him to the chase.

"I know what you did..." He snarled with venom in his voice

"Would you care to expand Potter?" Snape drawled with his usual tone

"Let me put it this way _Professor_." Harry started, "I know what you told your master in the last war"

Snape paled. His mouth opened and closed as if trying to say something. It was the first time Harry had ever seen this from Snape. "You've been treating me like shit from my first day here, and I'm telling you now... you won't anymore." His voice was steadily increasing. Harry willed his aura to glow brighter, to intimidate the man.

"You don't understand... I..." Snape tried

Harry smirked at the man trying to speak. Regaining his composure, Snape looked up at him, "The headmaster requested a meeting with you today after classes"

Harry smirked, and began leaving the classroom. As he was on his way out, Snape called after him. "The password is 'chocolate frogs'"

Harry made his way to the Gryffindor lunch table, and eagerly told his friends what happened. "Blimey mate! That's bloody brilliant!" said Ron.

"WHAT? Harry you just threatened a Hogwarts professor!" Hermione stated

Harry sighed. "Hermione, you know what he did, if anything, I should be even more angry. Believe me, his consequences are far from over..." He said grinning darkly.

After finishing their lunch, the trio headed to their double Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They had this class with the Slytherins. Harry was eager to get to this class today. So far they hadn't accomplished anything in the class this year, due to Umbitch teaching the class. Today she was missing, and Harry suspected she wouldn't be back for the whole year, due to the blood quill incident. He suspected Dumbledore would bring it up in his meeting tonight.

Harry was also looking forward to seeing Daphne next class. He hadn't spoken to her since that day in the Hospital wing.

He wasn't lying that day. He was going to find a way to get her out of the marriage contract. He still had much to discuss with her. Not only that, but he also greatly enjoyed her company. Harry hadn't lied when he had told her he found her attractive. Who wouldn't? She was beautiful. He enjoyed spending time with her, and he had enjoyed their meetings after classes. Their relationship was budding into something more than friendship. With these reasons in mind, Harry decided to ask her out to Hogsmeade.

The three walked into the defense classroom. Harry glanced at Daphne, who gave him a smile. He smiled and sat down, vowing to speak with her after class.

He still wondered who the substitute would be for Umbitch. Nobody had shown up yet.

After a couple minutes of waiting, Harry finally heard the door to the classroom opened and he heard the all too familiar billowing of robes.

Snape strode in quickly, swished his wand, closing all the windows and stood in front of the classroom. "Shit..." Harry thought to himself. He had thought he was done with Snape for the day. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

That class period, Gryffindor lost fifty points. Grumbling as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period, Harry stood up, packed his bag and got ready to leave. For the second time in the same day, Harry told his two friends to go on without him. He saw Daphne exiting the classroom with Tracey behind her.

Jogging to catch up to her, Harry tapped her on the shoulder and nodded to an unused classroom. "Go on Trace, I'll catch up with you at supper," she said softly.

Politely Harry opened the door for her, and walked in after her. She sat on a table that was in the middle of the room. Harry sat down next to her. Their shoulders were touching.

"So, Potter, missed me already did you?" She said with a goofy grin on her face.

"Not a chance Greengrass" Harry teased, looking sideways at her

"You wound me," she said dramatically

The two laughed together. "Anyways Harry, jokes aside, how've you been? I really was worried when you were in that hospital bed"

"I'm used to it by now I suppose. If I had a sickle for every time I woke up In a hospital bed, I would have quite the collection of sickles!" Harry joked.

Daphne giggled a little. "Your friend Granger told me about your meeting this Wednesday. You can expect me and Tracey to be there, and probably Blaise as well," she said after regaining her composure

"Fantastic! I also wanted to speak with you about that contract of yours. Would it be at all possible for me to meet with your father over the winter holiday about the terms of the contract?"

"Maybe. I'll send him a letter and then let you know." She exclaimed with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Great! Anyways Daph, I have a question for you..." Harry began hesitantly. Students left for the winter holiday the following Monday, but before that, on Saturday, they had their final Hogsmeade weekend.

"Shoot!" She replied with a smile, motioning for him to continue.

"Ummm... I was wondering if youwouldwanttogotoHogsmeadewithme!" Harry exclaimed rapidly. Looking up hesitantly he saw a befuddled expression upon her face, which looked rather cute.

"Come again?"

Sighing, Harry repeated himself. "I was wondering if you would like to join me at Hogsmeade this Saturday..." He slowly said. Looking up for a second time, he tried to read her reaction.

He was surprised to see a huge smile on her pretty face. "Of course! I'd love to!" She beamed

"Really?" Harry asked surprised

"Really," she reassured.

Relieved, Harry smiled wide. He got down off the table, with a silly grin on his face. "It was great talking to you again. I'll see you on Wednesday." He spoke softly.

"Yeah, bye Harry," Daphne said cheerfully

Harry once again opened the door for her, and she walked down the now empty corridor. Harry watched her leave, and then headed off to his own common room, to meet up with Ron and Hermione. The whole way there, he couldn't stop smiling.

He had just asked Daphne Greengrass to Hogsmeade. And she had said yes.

* * *

Tracey was waiting for Daphne at the great hall. The last she had seen of her was when Potter had taken her to an unused classroom. She of course knew their whole situation. Her and Daphne were best friends after all, and Daphne told her everything. She had been quite angry at Daphne's actions, and had yelled at her a little bit last week.

She was sitting across from Blaise, who had all his attention on the food on his plate. He barely looked up when Daphne sat down next to him. The first thing Tracey noticed was the huge smile plastered on her face. Cautiously, Tracey spoke first. "What'd he want?"

Coming back into the world of the living, Daphne looked at her. "Huh? Oh Harry, he just wanted to talk, and he actually asked me to Hogsmeade," she responded cheerfully.

"He did? Daph that's great! Going to stop at Madame Puddifoots for a snog are you?" Tracey teased

"Tracey! Of course not!" Daphne stated, flustered.

Blaise snickered hearing the playful banter between the two.

"Oh piss off Zabini, Ill hex your bits off!" Daphne snapped coldly, reminding them why she was known as the Ice Queen.

Blaise looked up innocently. "Relax Daph! He better not try anything. Boy-Who-Lived or not there'll be hell to pay." his expression becoming more serious.

Throughout the years, Blaise had become a sort of older brother for Daphne. She appreciated it immensely, but she said "It's fine Blaise, Harry won't try anything like that. Even if he does, I'll be able to take care of myself."

Tracey was excited for her friend. Although many had tried, no boys had ever peaked Daphne's interest before. It was time she had a talk with Harry Potter. She needed to know how someone had finally thawed the Ice Queens frozen heart.

* * *

After grabbing a quick bite, Harry proceeded to the third floor. He got nearer to the gargoyle statue and spoke the password. "Chocolate Frogs" he called out. Immediately the gargoyle sprung aside, revealing the spiral staircase to the headmasters office. Harry climbed up the stairs, and knocked thrice on the great oak doors.

"Enter" came the voice of the old headmaster.

Opening the doors and looking around the office, Harry found Dumbledore at his desk. "Ah, Harry I was wondering when you would be showing up"

"Good evening Professor!" Harry said cheerfully.

"Indeed it is a good evening isn't it? Anyways Harry, there are a couple things we need to address today. I'm sure you have guessed what this meeting is about today. I'm sure you also noticed that Professor Umbridge was not present today. Earlier on Sunday evening, she was taken into auror custody for the use of a blood quill on students as a form of punishment. A trial will be held over your winter holidays which you will need to present for."

Grinning Harry looked at the headmaster. "Who will be taking over her position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" he questioned

"As it is, I do not know yet. Hopefully this problem will be resolved by the time you return after the holidays."

"Professor, whatever happened with Malfoy?" Harry asked, getting angry again.

"Mr. Malfoy will be expelled from Hogwarts, and will not return after the holidays. A meeting was held with his father, who as you can probably guess, did not take it well. However, the consequence has been given, and cannot be undone, no matter how powerful Lucius Malfoy is."

Satisfied with the answer, Harry smirked.

"I believe that Mr. Malfoy will complete his schooling at Durmstrang" Dumbledore continued.

"That's great professor!" Harry exclaimed. Between Umbridge and Malfoy, he was rid of both. He was thinking about Umbridge's trial when a thought struck him.

"Sir! I've just had an idea. During Umbridge's trial, is it possible to bring up another legal issue after the trial is over?"

"Indeed there is. At the end of a Wizengamot trial, it is always asked at the end if another issue is present that needs to be discussed before the meeting is drawn to a close."

Grinning from ear to ear, Harry began speaking fast. "Headmaster, do you believe it possible to bring up Sirius after the trial? Isn't it possible to have a trial with veritaserum. I can simply bring up the fact that Sirius was never given a trial. In fact, I have many things that I could discuss at the trial. Is it possible to have a vote of no confidence of Fudge? No doubt he will try to discredit whatever I say."

"Ah, what an idea Harry. However, by having a vote of no confidence, you would need to have a replacement for him. Also, you would need a reason as to why they should get rid of him."

"Couldn't I just subject to a veritaserum test? Then everyone would know the truth about Voldemort's return." Gears were turning in Harry's head. This would vindicate Sirius, as well as him and Dumbledore. He could push for big change in the ministry. For a replacement, he would speak with Amelia Bones. From what he had heard about her from Sirius as well as Susan Bones, her niece, she would make a just and fair replacement.

"This is indeed possible, and a very clever idea Harry. You would do well to think it through. I will be there at Grimmauld Place to help you as well, on the days leading up to the trial." Dumbledore was also lighting up. The idea was simple, one that should have been thought up way before. It was a promising plan. They had a lot of work to do.

"Alas, Harry there is yet another couple things that need to be discussed. First of all, I want to let you know, the lessons we discussed last time will begin after the holidays, and I shall inform the days and times. Second of all, I understand you and Professor Snape had a confrontation of sorts."

Harry snorted. "If that's what you'd call a confrontation, then sure. Professor, I understand what you told me about letting it be. I also honestly don't care. I'm sorry but this man was one of the main reasons my parents are dead. You can't expect me to just let him treat me like trash," he explained.

"Of course I understand you're anger, but you must also understand that people can change. Professor Snape is one of those people."

Harry realized he wasn't going to win this argument, and decided to just agree with whatever he was saying to end the discussion soon. "Alright professor. I'm sorry I lost my temper at Snape"

" _Professor_ Snape," Dumbledore interjected

"Yes, him, I'm sorry I lost my temper, It won't happen again."

"And I'm glad to hear it. On a different note, how are things going with the defense club?" Dumbledore inquired with the famous twinkle in his eyes

Harry perked up a bit at this. "It's actually going pretty great! We're going to have a little preliminary meeting this Wednesday actually, and we'll start the lessons after the holidays are over."

Dumbledore smiled, and spoke. "That's marvelous. Unfortunately, it seems out meeting must come to an end now. It is almost curfew after all, and it would not do well to be out after curfew."

Harry smirked at his headmaster. Standing up and walking out the door, he called out behind him. "Goodnight headmaster!"

"Goodnight Harry!"

* * *

Wednesday evening rolled by rather quickly. Harry was quite nervous now that the day had actually arrived. He had never done well speaking in front of crowds. One time in elementary school, he had choked up in front of his classmates while giving a presentation. He had gotten teased and beat up by Dudley for weeks after that incident.

He silently cursed Hermione for talking him into this idea. Finally after finishing Herbology, and eating an early supper, he trudged up to the seventh floor at 5:20, with Hermione and Ron. Nobody was here yet. Walking back and forth three times, thinking of a place he could give a presentation. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, he saw the tall doors. He opened them and stepped into the room, followed by Ron and Hermione.

The room was perfect. There were probably one hundred chairs, all facing towards the front of the room. The front of the room was an elevated platform, like a stage, with a chair, and surprisingly, and dueling mat. Perhaps for a demonstration? Harry decided he wouldn't utilize it today. The three agreed that the room would do. They exited the room, and began to wait for people to start rolling by.

The first to arrive were a group of Hufflepuffs, which included Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Ernie MacMillan, and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Hermione welcomed them warmly, and directed them inside. Harry saw Daphne coming, with Blaise and Tracey, and gave her a warm smile, and showed her inside. Soon, more and more people began to arrive, and Harry went inside and sat down on the stage. By 5:45, the three determined everyone who was coming had probably shown up already. Ron and Hermione then took their respective seats on either side of him. Hermione called for everyones attention. Her voice was louder, coming from the stage.

"Hello everyone," she began timidly "I suppose you all know why you're here. So far, we've had a horrible DADA teacher. We haven't had a proper teacher to prepare us for whats out there. We need a teacher who's had real life experience against dark forces..."

She was interrupted by a fourth year Ravenclaw. "Why?"

This time Ron spoke up. "Why? You've got to be kidding me! Because You-Know-Who's back you bloody wanker!"

"So Potter says, but how do we even know its true? For all we know, he's lying about the whole thing!" came the pompous voice of Gryffindor sixth year, Cormac McClaggen. "

Harry tried not to get angry about it. He had expected it. Keeping a calm voice, he spoke for the first time, swallowing his fear. "I'm not going to stand up here and lie to you. He really is back. What would I stand to gain from lying about this? In case you don't remember, Voldemort killed my parents!"

McClaggen shut up after that. The Ravenclaw from before once again spoke up. "And what makes you such a great teacher?"

"Well you prat, Harry's fought Voldemort four times now and won. Second year he slew a basilisk in the chamber of secrets, he fought off hundreds of dementors at once in THIRD year, and last year, he really did fight V-Voldemort in the graveyard." Ron spoke with conviction. Harry got up again at this, not comfortable with the praise.

"Ron.. stop.." Harry started, "Listen it all sounds fantastic when you say it like that, it sounds easy, but the truth is, it's not. The reason I wanted to start this club, was because you all need to know how to defend yourselves and your families. Ill tell you the truth right now. Voldemort IS back, and whether you like it or not, you WILL be dragged into the fight. You don't know what its like to be in battle, and watch your friends die right in front of your eyes. Dark times are coming, and you need to be prepared to fight for yourself, and your loved ones."

There was silence for a good minute, until there was the moving of chairs, as people got up to come and sign their name on the list. Harry looked on at the people who were joining. He was surprised to see Seamus signing up. After their argument earlier in the year, Harry had thought he wouldn't show up. In fact, Seamus was one of the first people to sign up. He was pleased to see that Daphne was signing up. In fact she had been the first one to get up and sign her name, followed by Tracey and Blaise.

After everyone had signed their names, Harry thanked them all for coming, and bid them all a goodnight. Giving the paper with all their names to Hermione, Harry packed his stuff up. As they left the room of requirement, Harry saw Daphne waiting outside the door.

"We'll see you later mate," Ron said, dragging Hermione with him. Harry gave him a grateful smile, and waved him goodbye.

"Hey Daph!" Harry said with a smile

"Hi. That was quite the speech you gave in there. Short and sweet. I liked it!" she said as she looked at him.

Blushing under her praise, Harry began walking. "I'll walk you to your common room," he said, taking her bag of books from her." I'm glad you could make it today. It meant a lot to me."

"Of course Harry. I told you I would come," she said, shaking her head

Harry gave her a small smile, when he remembered something. "Oh by the way, Malfoy was expelled!"

"Really? I saw him on Monday, but I haven't seen him since."

"Yeah he won't be coming back after the winter holidays. I think he's going to be going to Durmstrang or something."

The two got nearer and nearer to the dungeons. As they kept walking the air got cooler, and Daphne began to shiver a little. Very cautiously, Harry put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her a little closer. She looked into his eyes, gratefully, rested her head on his shoulder, relaxing in his arms. They walked together in silence till they reached the entrance to her common room.

"Thanks Harry," She said, taking her bag from him, and slinging it across her shoulder. "You really were really great today," she whispered, as she drew nearer to him. He could feel her warm breath now, as she got closer. He subconsciously leaned in like her, and slowly and tentatively, their lips met. Fireworks exploded in his mind, as he felt shocks running from head to toe. Her lips were so soft. The kiss lasted no more than ten seconds, and she looked up at him with a blush painting her cheeks.

Slowly, and reluctantly, she stepped away from the warmth of his embrace, and whispered a quiet "Goodnight" before slipping into the common room.

Harry was still in a daze. He was seeing spots, as he hazily waved goodnight to her. When she was gone, Harry slowly turned and headed back to his own common room. There was much he had to tell Hermione and Ron about.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! I know a lot of the defense club scene I took from the movie, but to be honest, I thought it would be the best way for that scene the play out. I also changed a lot of the story line in this. I will post the next chapter pretty soon. I wanted to add more, but I thought that it was a really good place to end this chapter. Like I said last time, the chapters are getting longer. Slowly but surely, I will reach my goal of 10,000 words per chapter. Next chapter: Tracey talks to Harry, Hogsmeade, and Winter Holidays (or at least part of them). Anyway, Till next time!**


	9. Hogsmeade

**A/N: Hey guys. I have a pretty strong plan for the next few chapter, so updates should be coming pretty for the next couple weeks. Harry and Daphne's relationship might be progressing pretty fast, but I wanted to establish a pretty strong baseline, because the story doesn't revolve around them. Don't be fooled though, its not gonna be that easy for them to get together especially with the marriage contract. Be ready for some... complications... Anyways, hope you like it!**

* * *

Thursday morning found Harry sitting by himself in the common room. Classes started in an hour, and he was currently waiting for Hermione and Ron to come down so they could head to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast. He had been the first one up in the boys dormitories. Everyone was still using the loo, and Harry had had a very restless sleep. The events of the previous night had kept him awake. He kept replaying that moment in his mind over and over again. Her soft lips on his, her smell, how close they were. Thinking of it, Harry had barely got any sleep, and had woken up many times. The final time he had woken, he had cast a silent _tempus._ It read 6:27. 'Screw it,' he had thought to himself and had gotten out of bed.

Now, and hour later, he was sitting on the trio's usual couches, working on his essay on Wolfsbane. It was due the next day, and Harry thought he would get it done early so he would have time for Quidditch practice later that evening.

On the subject of Daphne, Harry had yet to tell his friends about what had happened. By the time he had returned to the common room the previous night, the two had already gone up to bed. He hadn't even seen Hermione, and he had only been able to talk to Ron for a minute, to wake him up. He planned on telling them during breakfast. Hopefully Hermione would be able to help him figure out what to do next.

"Morning Harry!" Came the chipper voice he knew was Hermione's

Looking up from his paper, he gave the bushy haired girl a toothy grin. "Goodmorning Hermione!" Harry said enthusiastically before returning to his paper.

Hermione came and sat down on the couches next to him. "Whatcha working on?"

Once again looking up from his paper at her, "Thought I'd finish my Potions essay early"

Hermione gave him a seemingly proud look, before pulling out a charms book, and beginning tot read. It was not long before Ron came stumbling down the stairs.

Mumbling a quick goodmorning, the trio began to head out the door to the Great Hall. Hermione had already gone through, and Ron was halfway through the door when Harry heard someone calling his name.

"Harry! Wait up!" came the thick irish accent of Seamus Finnigan

Harry turned slowly, coming face to face with the boy he had once thought to be a close friend. After their... disagreement... earlier on in the year, they had not spoken much, and Seamus had sent a couple nasty glares direction since then.

Harry had seen Seamus at the defense club meeting yesterday. In fact, Seamus had even signed up.

"Seamus," Harry acknowledged.

"Could I have a word?" he asked hesitantly. tugging on the hem of his robes, and shuffling his feet, he stood in front of him.

Giving him a firm nod, Harry told his friends to give him a couple minutes. Walking back to the couches, he motioned for Seamus to begin talking.

"Listen, Harry, I just wanted to say I'm sorry.. ya' know? I came to the meeting yesterday, and it really changed my mind." He began.

Harry listened on, still not having made any sound. Behind him, Ron and Hermione stood in silence as well. Harry once again nodded for him to continue.

Sighing, Seamus began again. "I guess what I'm really trying to say is, I believe you. I was being a shitty friend, and I am going to do whatever it takes to make it up to you!"

Harry was quite happy with what he had just said. He finally spoke up. "I deeply appreciate it Seamus! Consider everything forgiven," he said with a smile.

Seamus looked pleased that his apology was accepted. Harry bade him goodbye, and the trio finally made it to the Great Hall for their breakfast.

As Harry strode over to the Gryffindor table, he looked towards the Slytherin table, trying to catch the eye of a specific blonde haired girl. He saw Daphne sitting across from Blaise Zabini, and next to Tracey Davis. The first person to notice him looking was Tracey. She gave a smirk. No doubt she knew the events of the last night. She gently nudged Daphne and whispered something in her ear. Smiling, she looked right at Harry. He returned the smile, and sat down at his table next to Ron.

Having caught his eye, Hermione spoke up. "So.. You going to tell us what happened between the two of you?"

"Huh...? Oh! Yeah" Harry began, flustered. "Ummm... After the meeting yesterday, I walked Daphne to the Slytherin common room. We were just talking, and when we got there... she kissed me," Harry spoke in a hushed tone.

Ron, who had been in the middle of sipping his pumpkin juice sputtered, spraying juice everywhere. "SHE WHAT?"

"Shhhhhhh!" Harry berated, seeing everyone at the table's head turned towards them.

"Sorry. Blimey how was it?" Ron asked, still shocked.

"It was fantastic actually..." Harry said, once again reliving the moment, with a dreamy look in his eyes.

Hermione, who had been silent until this point finally spoke with a goofy grin on her face. "Wow Harry, she clearly fancies you. Do you know what you're gonna do?"

Honestly, Harry had been thinking about that exact question since last night. Especially with the bloody marriage contract, he still did not know how he was going to dissolve the contract between Daphne and Nott. All he knew was that he had to get it done. He had promised. He had already asked Daphne if he could speak with her father over the winter holidays. Hopefully he would be able to get it fixed by the time they got back to school.

"The two of you are going to Hogsmeade Saturday, correct?" came Hermione's voice once again, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. He nodded. "If you have any questions, let me know," she said as she helped herself to some toast.

Soon, the three headed off to their classes. Harry had decided to drop divination, and had somehow managed to convince Ron to do the same. As a substitute, the two had joined Hermione in Arithmancy. He had originally believed the class to be horrible. Once, upon seeing Hermione's homework, he had commented that it looked terrible. Now, after joining the class, he had learned that it indeed was quite interesting. Although Ron had initially had trouble in the subject, with help from Harry and Hermione, significantly more from the latter, he was beginning to do well in the class.

As soon as they had made it to the seventh floor, they made their way to classroom 7A. They were there early, and saw Professor Vector setting up for class. "Morning Professor!" Harry called out.

His sudden voice had startled her, and she jumped a little and quickly turned around. "Merlin Mr. Potter! Goodmorning!"

Smiling at his two friends, they walked to their seats and brought their books out. Soon the bell rang, signaling the start of class, and everybody was already in their seats.

"Good morning class!" Came the smooth voice of Professor Vector. "Please pull out your _Numerology and Gramatica_ textbook and flip to chapter 5. We will be learning about the uses of mathematical equations in magic"

Class went on, and Harry felt very confused. His mind was jumbled, and his thoughts swirled by the time they were finally dismissed. He resolved he would ask Hermione about what they had learned when he found time.

After a quick lunch, it was time for potions class, with Snape. Harry's confrontation with Snape had happened a couple days ago. he had not seen the man since that day. Hopefully his attitude would be different in todays class. Harry was pleasantly surprised.

The period had gone with little to no incident. They were brewing rather simple Strengthening Solution. However, before, Snape would have hassled him about it. Today, Snape did not even take away points from him, and when he had gone and submitted his potion at the end of the class, Snape had even gone so far as to label it "passable."

It was definitely a positive change, one which Harry greatly appreciated. Maybe things were finally starting to go positively for him this year.

Potions was the last lesson for the day. They had quite a long break till their supper. This was the time Quidditch practice took place. Harry was definitely not looking forward to it. After working late for the past week, and everything that had been going on, he really did not feel like going to practice. Especially with the holidays right around the corner, Harry was finding it extremely hard to stay concentrated.

He and Ron dropped Hermione off at the common, grabbed their gear, and headed to the pitch. Harry clutched his Firebolt in one hand, and walked side by side with Ron. They didn't have a game till after they returned from the holidays, which was against Slytherin. Although he loved Quidditch, Angelina had increased their workouts throughout the year, and now was pushing them harder than ever before.

The two finally arrived at the pitch. The team was already waiting for them there. "Oi Potter! Weasley! You're late!" said Angelina sternly.

"Sorry," they both said simultaneously, as they mounted their brooms. Practice started when Angelina had them break off into groups. She had them practice different formations, like the Hawkshead Formation, and she had Ron practice the Double Eight Loop multiple times.

Finally, after two hours, the sticky and sweaty Gryffindors limped back into the locker rooms. Changing quickly, and famished Harry and Ron headed back to the castle. Talking and laughing on the way there, the two made their way to the common room, and then the Great Hall. As they were walking through the Entrance Hall, Harry once again heard his name being called, from a vaguely familiar female voice.

"Potter!" it shouted, from across the hall.

Turning, Harry quickly identified it as Tracey Davis. Smiling he walked over and greeted her, along with Ron and Hermione. "Hello Davis! Good evening," He began. "These are my friends, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, although I'm sure you've met sometime in these past five years," he said with a snicker.

She gave him a smile, her eyes warm, and stuck out her hand for both Ron and Hermione to shake. "Of course, we've had small interactions here and there. Anyways, Potter I need to speak with you, preferably alone."

Already having expected it, his friends went into the great hall to wait for him, bidding farewell to Tracey.

"So.. What is it you wanted to talk about?" Harry inquired, standing across from Tracey, leaning against a wall.

"First of all, I want to know your intentions with Daphne," she said seriously, the smile quickly disappearing off her pretty face.

Harry quickly stood up straight, flustered. "Listen... Tracey, I don't know what you think about me, but I would never ty to take advantage of her. I'm sure you know what I saved her from, so I hope you understand I would never try something like that," he began. "I would never try to hurt her on purpose either. Daphne's told me about some of her past experiences with guys as well, and I truly like her for who she his, not just for her looks. You have my word I would never try anything untoward," he finished, having gotten more serious after each word.

Tracey looked skeptical for a split second, before she visibly relaxed. Her eyes regained the warmth which they had held before. "Whew!" she exclaimed like a giggle. Harry gave her a confused look. "I didn't know how long I could keep that mean demeanor," she said. "I believe you, and I really want to thank you for what your doing for her. She's never opened up to a guy before, and that's really changed since she met you. I also want to thank you for saving her from _Malfoy,"_ she said as she spat the name in disgust.

Harry also relaxed. He had been a little worried, especially when she had suddenly turned so cold. The two walked into the Great Hall together, and as they were about to part ways, Tracey leaned in and whispered only for him to hear. "She really likes sweets, so take her to Honeydukes." with this, she gave him a wink and went to the Slytherin table, and joined Daphne.

Smirking at the girls antics, Harry scanned the Gryffindor table for his friends. Finding them next to Ginny and Dean, he went and sat down in between Ron and Dean.

"Wha 'as tha' abouw?" Ron asked through a mouthful of chicken. Hermione threw him a disgusted look, and he finished chewing and gave her a sheepish grin in return. "Sorry"

Laughing at his friend, Harry answered. "Nothing really, she just wanted to talk to me about Daphne. She asked me what my intentions were with her," he said with a shrug. "I just told her that I would never do anything like that to Daphne, and she just went with it."

Smirking, Hermione went back to picking at her food. The trio soon finished quickly, and returned to the common room. Ron and Harry, having returned from Quidditch practice were both quite tired. After doing a little homework, the two had bid Hermione a goodnight and gone to bed comparatively early.

* * *

Friday had gone quite smoothly. He had only Charms and Care of Magical Creatures today. As it was the last day before break, both Professor Flitwick, and Professor Grubbly Plank had not done anything too challenging.

Hagrid was still not here. He had been replaced by Grubbly-Plank for the time being, but Harry had to admit, he missed him. He had been his first real friend, and he was worried about him. Dumbledore had assured him that Hagrid would return soon, and Harry was anxious for that.

The Gryffindors had a break after Care of Magical Creatures till supper. The evening was spent in the common room, playing exploding snap, and chess. Harry had been locked in a furious game of exploding snap against Dean Thomas, but had ultimately lost, nursing sore fingers at the end of it. Ron was currently playing a match of chess against Seamus. The Irish man was soon getting frustrated. It was true that Ron was exceptionally good at chess. Every move Seamus had made, Ron was able to counter with ease.

Harry looked on as his best mate played the game. He felt the couch move next to him, and without even looking, he could tell it was Hermione who had just sat down. "Hey 'Mione," he said as he turned his head to look at her face.

"Hi Harry. You ready for your date tomorrow?"

Harry face flushed. The truth was, he was terrified. Especially after their kiss, Harry was concerned he would make a fool out of himself. He was scared it would be very awkward. "To tell the truth, I'm terribly frightened," he told her honestly, with a grim face.

Laughing slightly, she shook her head. "Don't worry Harry. Just be yourself, It'll be fine." she reassured him

He nodded. "What if I make a fool out of myself?" he questioned with a scared look in his eyes.

"Listen, I'm sure she's as nervous as you are right now. Just relax and be yourself. You won't botch it up," she said quietly, with a reassuring smile on her face. She didn't know just how right she was.

Down in the Slytherin common room, in the fifth year girls dormitories, a blonde haired girl was close to having a panic attack. "Oh merlin Trace! What am I going to do? I'm so scared for tomorrow. What if I make a fool out of myself? What if he doesn't like me anymore?"

Tracey looked at her friend, with a smirk on her face. "Calm down Daph!" she exclaimed. "You need to relax! It'll be fine!"

Daphne didn't look convinced. "But what if he doesn't like me anym..." she repeated, before being interrupted.

"Oh shut up Daphne! You're going to be just fine. He's not going to just stop liking you. Even you can't mess it up that bad!" she teased playfully, trying to lighten the mood. It worked, as she saw a smile creep onto her friends face.

Currently the two were alone in the girls dormitories. Daphne had dragged her out of the common room, when she began panicking. Tracey was amused. It was funny to see her best friend like this. She sincerely hoped that this thing with Potter would work out for her. She longed to see Daphne happy.

Daphne was still very nervous about the next day. She wanted it to go well. Especially when they had kissed after the Defense Club meeting, she had felt sparks going off in her head, and had been unable to go thirty minutes without thinking about the bright green eyed boy. Although Tracey's word had somewhat convinced her, she still was anxious. She really didn't fancy making a fool in front of the boy she was really beginning to like. She had been over the moon when he had asked her out to Hogsmeade.

'It'll all be fine. It'll all be fine' she thought, repeating this mantra, trying to reassure herself.

When the time came for supper, Daphne walked down with Tracey. Sitting at the Slytherin Table, she looked around the large room. She found the object of her interest sitting across the hall at the Gryffindor table, between his two friends. Looking at him for a while, she saw how relaxed he was, and found herself admiring him. After a nudge in the ribs from Tracey, she finally looked down at her food, and began to eat.

Daphne and Harry left the Great Hall at practically the same time. The two went their separate ways, and very anxious for the next day, Harry decided to go to bed early the second night in a row. Bidding both Ron and Hermione a goodnight, he trudged up the stairs. Climbing into bed after changing into pyjamas, he tried to drift of to sleep. His attempts were futile, as the thoughts about the next day kept him awake.

He was excited, but he was also scared as well. Talking with Hermione had been helpful, but it hadn't gotten rid of all his fears. Finally, he fell into a disturbed sleep. His dreams were plagued by the beautiful Slytherin girl he would be taking to Hogsmeade tomorrow.

* * *

Rays of sunshine protruded from behind the curtains of Harry's four poster bed. Slowly stirring from his sleep, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He opened the curtains, and fumbled around on his nightstand till he found his glasses. Smashing them onto his face, Harry grabbed his wand and cast a quick _tempus,_ noting the time was nine thirty.

He thought about what he would be doing today, still a little foggy from his sleep. Suddenly, he remembered his date with Daphne today. His legs shot out of bed as he quickly stood up. Looking around his room, Harry noticed that Ron was still snoring, as was Seamus. Dean had already gotten up, and was presumably in the common room. Dean had always been the earliest to rise of them all. Harry glanced at Neville's bed, and noted that he was still in bed as well.

As he thought through his plan for today, Harry fumbled around his trunk looking for clothes to wear. He had told Daphne that they would meet at the Entrance Hall around 12:30, and they could grab lunch at the village. He grabbed a towel and quickly bolted to the loo.

After brushing his teeth, he hopped into the shower. Taking time to carefully lather the soap and shampoo onto his body, he took a nice long shower, letting the hot jets of water rain upon him. Finally, he climbed out of the shower, and dried himself off, and tied the towel around his waist. Going back into the dormitories, he looked on at the clothes he had neatly laid onto his bed.

He had a deep navy colored turtleneck, as well as a pair of dark colored pants. He also had a black stylish jacket, with far too many pockets, to go over his shirt. On top of this, he had a light scarf. The past summer, Harry had finally decided to get some good clothes, and got rid of the rags he had gotten from the Dursleys. He had shopped at numerous muggle stores, buying many different clothes, not even making a dent in his family's vast fortune.

Harry slowly began to dress himself. Spraying a hint of cologne on himself, he proceeded to then pull his pants on. Then, he slipped into the turtleneck. He went to the mirror, and began examining himself. He had to admit, he looked pretty good. Compared to the rags he used to wear, these were amazing. The physical training had also done him loads. His muscle, although not ripped, were still big enough to pop out through his shirt.

He wasn't going to wear his jacket and scarf yet, because there was still quite some time before they departed to Hogsmeade. Just for kicks, he put it on, and wrapped the scarf around his neck, just to see how it looked. He grinned when he saw his reflection once again. It looked good, he just hoped it would be good enough for Daphne. Taking off the two items, he set them down once again on the bed.

He decided to at least to get his hair to look tamed. His attempts were futile however, and he eventually gave up, and his hair remained messy, as usual. He grabbed his jacket, and went down to the common room. Of course, he found Hermione already there.

"Looking good Harry!" she complimented.

His cheeks flushed as he muttered a quiet thanks, and the two proceeded to the Great Hall for a late breakfast, letting Ron sleep even more.

"Now remember, you have to treat her like a proper lady. She's not Ron, you have to be a proper gentleman. Make sure you tend to all her needs before your own." she reminded him with he bossy voice.

"Yes, of course 'Mione, I got it, don't worry," he reassured her, after hearing her ramble for a few minutes on the proper etiquette of taking a girl out.

She gave him a small smile. "I'm glad you're going today Harry, I'm glad you're doing for something for yourself finally, and I'm glad you're happy," she said as they entered the Great Hall.

The two sat down next to one another, and began eating their breakfast. As they ate, Hermione filled him in on some interesting topics in Arithmancy, and he absentmindedly listened to her, nodding his head every now and then. Soon the two had finished breakfast. Harry accompanied Hermione to the Library.

After about an hour of the two beginning their homework for over the holidays, it was 11. Harry decided he would excuse himself, and go wake Ron up if he was not already up. "Bye, Good luck today!" she said, giving him a hug.

He waved her bye, and then walked back up to the Gryffindor common room. When he arrived, he found Ron already in the common room.

"Morning mate!" he said cheerfully. "Thanks for letting me sleep in"

"Good morning!" Harry called back. Ron had a copy of the daily prophet open, and was reading.

"By the way, you look very good, I'm sure Greengrass will love it," he said reassuringly. Ron knew how much Harry was anxious about their date. Harry sat across the table from Ron, and he two began to talk and laugh together. Soon, it was 12, and Harry decided he should start heading down to meet Daphne. Ron and Hermione were also going to Hogsmeade, but they were going to go an hour after him, and they would meet up later in the day.

Grabbing his jacket and throwing it on, Harry said goodbye to Ron, promising to meet them in Hogsmeade later that day. "Yeah, have fun mate. Let me know how it goes yeah?"

"Definitely" Harry said with a smirk.

Exiting the common room, Harry slowly began to walk to the Entrance hall. He walked very slow, trying to calm his nerves before meeting Daphne. "Relax Potter, You've faced down the bloody dark wanker three times now, I'm sure you can handle taking a beautiful girl out on a date..." he thought to himself.

Finally Harry reached the Entrance Hall. It was 12:25, and Harry stood expectantly, at the doorway, waiting for Daphne. He fiddled with the zipper of his jacket, nervously waiting, when he saw her walking towards him. The first thing that he thought was how extremely beautiful she looked. She had a grey sweater on, which greatly accentuated her curves, and black jeans. She had a fluffy jacket on, and boots. To top it off, she had a on a cute hat, letting her blonde locks tumble down her shoulders. As she got closer, she smiled at him.

Finally, standing in front of him, she opened her mouth to talk. "Hey Harry!" she said, excited to see him.

Harry's mouth opened and closed, trying to come up with something to say. "You look... amazing..." he breathed out.

Her eyes lit up at his compliment, and she looked down. "Thanks... you don't look to shabby yourself" She said shyly

Harry finally began walking, "I suppose we should get going now," he mumbled, and she began to walk beside him. When they got to the charming village, they began to talk and laugh. "I want to really thank you for agreeing to come with me today... To be honest, after our.. kiss... I've been thinking about you a lot." Harry said hesitantly.

Daphne giggled in response. "Of course Harry. I'm not going to lie, you've been on my mind as well."

Harry smiled at this, and more confidently, put his arm around her shoulder as they walked around Hogsmeade. She relaxed into his arms, and they walked in silence, occasionally talking here and there, but mostly just enjoying each others company.

Daphne felt right at home in his arms, and felt comfortable in his arms, and relaxed into his muscular body. She was enjoying herself a lot. They were just walking and laughing in each others arms. The village was beautiful as well. the snow made the village look even more magical, and the constant light flurry made it enchanting.

When they got near Honeydukes, Harry took his hand off her shoulder, and grabbed her hand. Remembering Tracey's advice, he dragged her into the sweet shop. Laughing, she followed him inside the shop. It was warm, compared to the chilly winter air outside. She shed her hat, and her golden hair tumbled down her face. She gracefully swept the loose hairs behind her ear.

Harry couldn't help but think about how pretty she looked. He was enamored by her. He couldn't help but notice she had missed a lock of her beautiful hair, which was still on her cheek. Slowly, and cautiously, he brought his hand up to her cheek, and carefully tucked it back into place, his hand lingering on her cheek, before he realized what he had just done, and started stammering in embarrassment.

Daphne looked down, as a blush painted her already rosy cheeks. Mumbling a quiet thank you, she fidgeted with her sweater. Still holding her hand, and recovering from embarrassment, Harry, pulled her further into the shop.

"Whats your favorite?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What? oh... treacle tarts.." she said, still embarrassed.

Harry walked up to the treacle tarts, and bought so many, she couldn't even count. She tried to stop him, but he simply looked at her and said "Oh hush Daph! Will you please just let me treat you? You are my date right?" She resigned in defeat. "Whatever you want, you can get it." He added.

Although she tried to make him not spend so much on her, the two left the shop with two bags full of sweets. Although Daphne had not wanted him to buy so much just for her, she was still very happy, and touched by how far he had gone to treat her right. If anything, it only made her like him even more. Smiling happily, as he once again put his arm around her shoulder, she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck, relaxing into his grip, inhaling his scent.

Harry was having a really fun time. He enjoyed her company, and enjoyed the warmth of her body, in the cold winter air. The two went to different shops, and Harry bought her many small gifts, which she tried hard to dissuade him from. Ultimately, she was unable to do so.

The day progressed, and Daphne had a lot of fun. They grabbed a lunch with Hermione and Ron at the Three Broomsticks. They then parted ways, and the two went into Zonko's, and purchased little trinkets, like dungbombs, etc.

The day went without much incident, at least until they walked out of Zonko's joke shop and found themselves standing in front of Theodore Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson.

" _Potter,_ " Nott spat. "What're you doing with Greengrass?" he asked venomously.

"Me and Daphne are enjoying ourselves, and are currently on a date." Harry said in a false sweet voice. Harry's grip on Daphne tightened, as he sensed a confrontation.

Turning to Daphne, Nott spoke once again. "Who gave you permission to hang around Potter?" he asked

"As a matter of fact, _Nott_ , I can hang around anyone I want!" she said, throwing him a dangerous glare.

Nott became angrier by the second. "You dare talk to me that way? You little whore! I'm your betrothed, you bitch!" he yelled as he drew his wand on her.

Daphne had backed up a little when Nott drew his wand, and had stumbled, and was about to fall. She was about to yelp, when she felt a pair of strong arms around her waist, catching her. Harry looked at Nott dangerously. He already had his wand in his hand. "Put your wand away Nott, and leave, while you still can," he snarled, dangerously.

"Don't get involved in matters that don't concern you Potter! This is between me and Greengrass." he responded sharply, although this time, a flicker of fear passed through his eyes. Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle all had their wands out as well now. "Looks like you're outnumbered, don't worry, ill make it quick. You'll be joining your mudblood of a mother soon enough," he spoke, cockily.

Daphne knew what was going to happen if they provoked him anymore. She was completely aware that Harry could take all of them on. She had seen a glimpse of his power when he had beat Malfoy. "Nott, you and I both know you're father was there the night that Voldemort returned, so lets cut the crap. Now leave us alone before you get hurt," Harry said, his voice dangerously low. Without another word, Harry pushed through the group, and walked past them, his arm still protectively over Daphne.

With their back turns, Nott's clear voice rang out from behind them. "You bastard! _Reducto!_ "

Suddenly, Daphne was thrown to the ground, as Harry dragged her out of harms way. The red spell grazed harmlessly above their heads. Harry got up quickly, but Nott wasted no time. " _Bombarda! Expelliarmus!"_ he shouted. Harry simply conjured up a shield to absorb both spells. Shooting two quick stunners silently at Crabbe and Goyle, who were in the process of throwing their own spells, the two crumpled to the ground. Nott advanced, cautiously, after seeing Harry easily take out two people. He threw stunner aimed at Harry's head, which he deftly dodged.

Nott decided to try a different approach. Daphne was mesmerized by the fight, and had not even bothered to draw he wand. Nott shot off a silent reductor aimed at her. She watched helplessly as the red colored spell flew towards her. Suddenly, a blue shield materialize in front of her, absorbing the spell. Harry, who had thrown the _protego,_ was momentarily distracted. Nott used it to send an tripping jinx at Harry, which hit him square on, sending him sprawling into the snow.

"I told you Potter, stay away from my property, hopefully this will teach you a lesson." Nott drawled as he got closer to Harry.

Daphne knew better. She saw a malicious smirk on Harry's face, and suddenly, she heard Harry's voice yelling " _clypeus crescentem!"_ and a red shockwave came from him, throwing Nott backwards ten feet. Now it was Harry's turn to look down upon Nott's body in the snow. "I can promise you this Nott, she is nothing of yours"

Daphne was watching the situation so intensely, she almost missed Pansy creeping behind Harry with her wand drawn. This time however, Daphne was ready. "Oh no you don't, bitch!" She said sharply. She shot a stunner at the shocked Pansy, and she too crumpled into a heap on the ground.

Harry looked on at her with a look of gratefulness, and pride in his eyes, before turning back to Nott. "I'm telling you this once, stay away from me, and stay away from Daphne. I _will_ get her out of this stupid contract, you can bet on that." Nott looked afraid, of the sheer power that was radiating off of Harry. He slowly nodded his head.

Harry turned around and walked to Daphne. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding very concerned. It warmed her heart, knowing how much he cared. Harry had been truly afraid when Nott had sent the spell her way, and had barely managed to erect a shield to protect her.

She nodded, gingerly. He spoke again. "Thanks for dealing with Parkinson, by the way, she would have gotten the drop on me," he said, combing his hands through his unruly hair.

"No... thank you, once again. For defending my honor," she said softly. She was grateful of everything Harry had done for her. Harry simply shook his head.

"Daphne... I'll always be there for you... don't you forget that," he said with conviction. She believed him. They once again resumed their walk, and made their way to Hog's Head. Once inside, Harry ordered two butterbeers. Sitting at the table, right next to her, Harry held her hand in his, protectively.

Suddenly she remembered something. "Harry! When you were fighting Nott, you used a spell.. and then the shockwave came from you. I've never seen magic like that before..." she began.

Harry smiled at her curiosity, and then began to talk. "Yeah, I wondered when you'd ask about that. That's a spell I found in an old Potter spell book. ITs pretty powerful. I'm actually planning to teach some of the ones I find at the Defense Club. However, Hermione, Ron and I train by ourselves every day, if you want.. you can join us..." he informed her

She beamed, and spoke excitedly. "I would love to! Thanks so much for the invitation!"

Harry smiled at her cheerful reaction. They sat in silence for a little, with their hands together, waiting for the butterbeers to arrive. When they finally did, Harry let go of her hand, and began to sip at his. "Thank you again for agreeing to come here today with me. I really enjoyed myself in your company. I hope you had fun as well," he said as he put his drink back on the table

Daphne took a sip herself, before answering. "I had so much fun myself. Except for the Nott incident, I really enjoyed myself," she said, looking him in his eyes. Hesitantly, she began talking again. "Listen, Harry I think there's something we need to talk about..." she said, gauging his reaction. He looked on at her, waiting for her to finish talking. "It's about out kiss, the other night. I really like being in your company, and I know there's the whole problem with me being in Slytherin, and you being in Gryffindor, but I know we can work through that. I think I really like you. I mean I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, and I think that... mmmph"

Harry interrupted her rambling by leaning in and kissing her on her lips. They were just like he remembered them, soft. Once again, fireworks went off in his brain, and tiny shocks shot through his spine. At first she had been surprised by the sudden kiss, but soon after, had began kissing him back. Slowly, one of his hands came up and cupped her cheek, and he inhaled her amazing strawberry scent. After what seemed like ages, they finally pulled apart, for need of air.

"Wow...!" Daphne said softly, as she caught her breath.

"Yeah" Harry agreed grinning. "Does that address your concerns?"

"Yes! Definitely!" she said. Grinning stupidly, she leaned into his toned body, and snuggled into his warmth. "Harry?" She said softly, after some time.

"Hmmm?"

"What are we know? Where do we stand?" she asked timidly, pulling away from his body to look at his face.

He looked thoughtful, and waited before he answered. "Well, I like you, and you apparently like me as well. We've kissed twice now. I suppose that makes us boyfriend and girlfriend?" he said, saying it as more of a question than a statement.

Smirking, she snuggled back into him, "yeah.. definitely boyfriend and girlfriend," she confirmed.

After ten or so more minutes, Harry sighed. "Daph, as much as I love being here with you, it really is time we head back to the castle."

Giving him a fake pout, she agreed, and hand in hand, the new couple made their way back to Hogwarts.

Far away, already back in the Slytherin Common Room, Theodore Nott was seething. Silently, he vowed to himself that he would ruin both Potters and Greengrass's newly found relationship. He would get his revenge.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked that chapter. I worked on it for a few days, and it's longer as well, almost 6,800 words. I established their relationship now, but there will be twists in the future, so don't assume everything is all good. Anyway, i'll have new updates up soon! Till next time!**


	10. Winter Hols

**A/N: Sorry for a little bit of a long wait. Truth is I was just lazy, deal with it. I also changed this from the original, I know that they left early because of the attack on Mr. Weasley, but that doesn't happen in my story. Anyway, here's a new chapter to keep y'all happy.**

 **By the way, I am currently looking for a beta, if you're interested make sure to let me know. Thanks!**

* * *

It had been two days since students had left for the winter holidays. Harry had arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place some time on Monday afternoon, along with Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley family. The train ride had been an eventful one.

He and his two friends, along with Neville had found themselves a compartment. Soon they had been joined by Luna and Ginny as well. The boys had been talking about Quidditch, while Hermione was discussing the plans for the Defense Club with the two younger  
girls. The train began its long journey with a lurch, and they were off. Soon, Hermione got up, and patted Ron on the shoulder. "Come on Ron, we have to go do our rounds," she said, referring to their prefect duties.

"Alright, see you mate!" Ron said waving at the remaining people in the compartment, and heading out behind Hermione.

Harry waved back, and sat back and began talking to Neville once again. Soon afterwards, the two remaining girls excused themselves as well, saying they had to go meet some of their own friends. Harry was thankful for this, because he had remembered his  
promise to speak with Neville about the prophecy. Waving goodbye to the girls, he addressed Neville more seriously.

"Hey, Nev, there's actually something quite important I need to speak with you about," he said. It was then Harry realized how much Neville had changed over the years. He had lost nearly all of his baby fat now, and was very mature. He was a good friend,  
and Harry felt bad for how he had ignored him these past years.

Neville nodded, and awaited Harry to begin talking. Taking a deep breath and decided he would begin with the prophecy. "So, first of all, what I am about to tell you, you can't tell _anyone_ , you understand?" Harry asked, and received a sharp nod.  
"Well then, to begin with, there's a reason Voldemorts always come after me, and I feel you have a right to know. Basically, there is a prophecy. It says _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_ Harry  
said, finishing the prophecy.

Neville was quite shocked at the revelations. He had always wondered why the Dark Lord had been after Harry, but this explained it completely. Shaking, he opened his mouth to talk. "But Harry, this basically says, that you are the only one who can stop  
him..." he began.

Harry looked into his eyes solemnly. Nodding his head, he started talking again. "Neville, the thing with the prophecy is, there was also one other person the prophecy could have been referring to..."

That was when realization dawned on Neville. His face changed to one of surprise and shock as he understood what Harry was talking about. "Me?"

"Yeah, 'born as the seventh month dies...' you see? The only difference is that Voldemort marked me as his equal," he said, pointing to his scar. Harry noted that Neville didn't even flinch when he had said Voldemort's name. It was safe to say he was  
impressed. "I also know what happened to your parents..." Harry said quietly. He saw Neville's eyes harden as he said this.

"Listen, Nev, I'm telling you this because I think you deserve to know. I mean, you've all the more reason to want revenge," Harry started. "Dumbledore is helping me prepare to get rid of the slimy bastard once and for all. I want you to help me do this.  
I know I haven't necessarily been that close of a friend to you, but now, if you want to, I would like for you to help me."

Neville face morphed to one of determination, as he spoke very confidently. "Harry, I promise you, I will do whatever I can to help you get rid of that fucker. I'll be with you till the end. I'm not sure if you know, but since ancient times, Longbottoms  
have always stuck with Potters, and I am not going to be the one to break this tradition."

Harry smiled. "I appreciate it a lot mate. I'm glad to have you on board. Now there are some things you need to know, let me ask you, do you know what a Horcrux is?" Neville looked at him with a look of disgust and horror. This was enough to give Harry  
his answer. "Judging by your facial expression, I'm assuming you do..."

"Yeah, I've read about them in the library at Longbottom Manor. But Harry, that's really dark and disgusting magic. What do you want with it?"

"Dumbledore and I believe that old snake face made several Horcruxes," Harry began, as the color drained from Neville's face. Harry took a deep breath before saying his next sentence. "We believe that on the night Voldemort came to Godrics Hollow to kill  
me... he unwittingly made a Horcrux.. in me."

Neville was white as a sheet as the information sunk in. "Is that why you can speak Parseltongue?" he asked shakily. He was quite intelligent, catching on quickly. Harry smirked, and nodded his head.

"Don't worry, we're going to get rid of it during this this holiday." Harry assured the boy.

Neville didn't look all the way convinced, but accepted the excuse... for now.

"So... you and Greengrass?" Neville said with a smirk.

Harry groaned. "Well, yes, I guess so. I mean its not that big of a deal is it?" he said uncomfortably.

"Its only the Gryffindor golden boy, dating the Slytherin Ice Queen, but you're right, not a big deal." Neville teased.

Harry glared at the boy, before his face morphed into a mischievous grin. "So, Neville, you got your eyes set on lady friend of your own?" he questioned. Harry watched on amused, as the boys face went red, and he squirmed in his seat. "Go on Neville,  
tell me!"

"I don't k-know what you're... I mean I don't h-have my eyes s-set on..." he tried.

Harry grinned at the boys uncomfortableness. "Oh cut the bullshit Nev! Just tell me who it is"

Neville took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, and spoke very fast as he let out all the air he had been holding. "ImightmaybefancyHermione!"

Harry laughed, "Sorry Nev, but couldn't understand what the bloody hell you just said."

"I said... I fancy Hermione!" he exclaimed, as a blush painted his face.

Harry laughter ceased immediately. He looked at Neville in shock. He had definitely not expected that. "Really?"

"Listen, Harry I'm sorry Harry, I know you..." he started, hurriedly.

Harry interrupted him. "What're you doing? Why're you apologizing?" he asked firmly. "You have nothing to apologize for. In fact, I think you'd be great for her!"

Neville visibly brightened at this. "You really think so?"

Harry smirked. "Of course, although I would have to warn you, Hermione's is one of my closest friends, and she's stuck with me through a lot of shit, so you better not hurt her, because there will be hell to pay." he said, before smiling.

Neville looked at him, before nodding his head slowly. At that moment, Hermione and Ron entered the compartment, as usual, bickering with each other.

"Honestly Ronald! Did you have to scare that poor boy?"

"Oh come off it 'Mione! It was just an ickle firstie!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry smiled at his friends antics. "Hey guys," he said, as he stood up. "I'm gonna go see Daphne since you guys are here." he started. "I'll be back soon," he promised.

Waving back at them, Harry gave a Neville a quick thumbs up. He walked up the corridor, looking in each compartment, and proceeded to the back, looking for Daphne. He stopped when he saw Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle standing outside a compartment.

"Get the hell out Nott!" he heard, from the unmistakable voice of Daphne.

* * *

Daphne sat in her compartment with Tracey and Blaise. She had a book open on her lap, but she wasn't really reading it. Her mind was elsewhere. She was still thinking about the date with Harry. Of course she had told Tracey about it almost immediately  
after she had come back.

Tracey had waited for her, and had pulled her into the dormitories to talk about it as soon as she had stepped in the common room. Daphne had told her about everything they had done together, with a dreamy look on her face. It hadn't been long before  
Blaise knew as well. They had greatly teased her about it the past few days.

"So... Daphne, how's that book?" Tracey asked, hiding a smirk.

Daphne snapped out of her daze, "Huh? Oh the book? It's pretty good..." she said uncertainly.

Tracey giggled. "How interesting has that page been? You've only been staring at it for 20 minutes straight." she said, bursting into peals of laughter.

Blaise also joined into the laughter, but quickly changed his demeanor. "Leave her be Tracey," he started, surprising Daphne. "She was only daydreaming about Potter," He said, causing the two to break out into laughter one again.

Glaring at the two, Daphne threw her book at Blaise, hitting him on the shoulder. "OW! Geez Daphne! We were just having some fun! You don't have to..." he started, before he was cut short by the compartment door opening.

Theodore Nott, followed by Crabbe, and Goyle stood outside the compartment. "Well look here, its Greengrass, with a filthy half blood! Honestly, wasn't it enough that you sullied yourself with filth like Potter, but you still need to hang around this  
one?" He said with a pointed look at Tracey, who looked down, as her cheeks began to fill with color.

Before Daphne could do anything, however, Blaise stood up, with his wand up. "Leave, now Nott," he said, warningly. Immediately, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle brought their wands up. They had been expecting this, and fired off simultaneous stunner at Blaise,  
who fired a single stunner himself, which hit Crabbe, before crumpling to ground from the force of three stunners.

Nott smirked, and looked down at Blaises unconscious body. At this point, Daphne had her wand out as well, while Tracey simply stared at Blaise. "Pathetic," Nott commented. "Listen you whore," He said, looking at Daphne, "I'm your betrothed, and you will  
treat me with respect, you little bitch, or I will make you!" He raised his wand to her face. "Did you honestly think I would leave things be after what happened..." he started.

Suddenly a voice from outside startled the two of them. Daphne had slowly and discreetly been aiming her wand at Nott's prized jewels, but the voice had shocked both of them, and she had retracted her hand in surprise.

"If I remember _Nott,_ I believe I told you to leave Daphne alone." came the voice she instantly recognized as Harry's. Nott also apparently recognized the voice, as a flicker of fear passed through his eyes.

He turned around quickly, waving his wand blindly. Harry grabbed him by his neck, and shoved him roughly into the wall of the compartment. "Trust me Nott, you even come near her once more, I won't let you off with a warning again." Nott tried to struggle  
out of Harry's grasp, but Harry held him in place. "Are we clear?" Harry asked menacingly, tightening his grip around his neck.

Nott quickly nodded, and Harry let go of his neck. Nott scurried out of the compartment. Harry quickly shot a silent tripping jinx at his legs, and the boy tumbled down, and tried to get up again, but failed miserably. Goyle enervated Crabbe, and dragged  
the dazed boy after Nott.

Harry laughed out loud at the scene, and was joined by Daphne and Tracey. The three went back into the compartment, and Harry pointed his wand at Blaises unconscious body. " _enervate_ " he spoke, and the dark skinned boy stirred.

"Blimey, my bloody head! Thanks Potter," He said

Harry nodded in acknowledgement. He sat next to Daphne. "Hey," he said, as he pulled her in for a quick kiss, enjoying the feeling.

"Thanks for that, but I had that handled!" she said.

Harry smirked at her, "Of course you did, I just thought you could use a _little_ bit of help" he teased

Harry stayed in their compartment, and got to know Blaise and Tracey better, before he got up and declared he had to leave. They were almost at the platform nine and three quarters, and Harry had promised he would meet his friends again.

"Do you really have to leave?" Daphne said with a fake pout.

Harry laughed, and kissed her soundly. "Yeah, sorry Daph, but I promised my friends I would meet them again. I'll try to meet you on the platform." he said hugging her, and then opening the compartment door. "It was nice talking to you Tracey, and Blaise!"  
He called out as he was leaving.

As soon as he left, Daphne mentally prepared herself for the teasing that was inevitably going to happen once she turned around.

"So... he calls you 'Daph'?" Tracey called out behind her, at which Blaise and Tracey howled in laughter. "But you never let _us_ call you 'Daph!" Blaise pouted with a smirk. Fuming, Daphne turned to the two, red in the face, and began yelling at  
them to shut up.

* * *

Harry got off the Hogwarts Express onto the Platform 9 and 3/4. He was followed closely by Hermione, Ron and Neville. Each lugged their respective trunks behind them, as they walked down the steps, banging their trunk on each one. Soon, the four stood  
shoulder to shoulder, scanning the crowd for their families. Neville quickly spotted his grandmother, who looked expectantly at Neville.

"Come on Neville, introduce me to your grandmother," Harry said, motioning to the elderly woman. Neville nodded his head, and the four walked over to her.

"Hello Gran," Neville greeted her.

"Hello Neville." She responded.

Neville gulped. Harry knew that his grandmother gave him a hard time, and from what he knew, she was a stern woman. "These are some of my friends, I'm sure you must have recognized Harry," He said pointing at him. "Harry, this is my Gran."

"Hullo! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Harry said, cheerfully extending his hand. She took it and shook it firmly.

She pursed her lips, and looked over him, from head to toe. Harry gulped, similar to Neville. "Good to meet you Mr. Potter, it finally seems my grandson has made some proper friends." she finally said.

Harry's eyes hardened when she said this. Neville looked down, hanging his head at his grandmothers words. When he finally spoke again, it was quieter than before. "This is Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger," he introduced. The two extended their hands  
as well, but other than that, kept silent.

When the meeting was coming to a close, Harry spoke up. "No offense Mrs. Longbottom, but I think you should start giving more credit to Neville," he said, startling both her, and Neville. She looked at him for a good minute, scaring Harry.

Finally, she responded. "Very well.." she said in a stern voice.

Saying their goodbyes, Harry made Neville promise to write to them over the break, and Harry promised to keep him updated about the horcrux. Waving goodbye to the boy, he, Ron, and Hermione made their way to where they were standing before. They looked  
around for a few minutes, before they saw Mrs. Weasley's red hair in the crowd. Harry found that the woman who had been like a mother to him had noticed them as well, as a bright smile lit up her face.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" She called out. "Over here!"

The three reached where she was standing and set their trunks down. She gave each of them one of her famous bone crushing hugs. "Harry! You're still much too skinny," she began.

It was then Harry noticed Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise stepping out of the train. The three looked around for a little bit, before Blaise waved goodbye to the two of them, and walked off towards an elegant looking woman, who Harry assumed was his mother.  
Soon afterwards, Tracey had also found her mother, and had given Daphne a hug, and left. Daphne stood by herself, looking into the crowd.

Harry looked to Mrs. Weasley, who was still waiting for Ginny, and the twins to leave the train. "Mrs. Weasley, would you mind if I leave for a few minutes? I have to meet someone..." he asked.

"Of course dear!" she responded, absentmindedly.

Harry smiled, and walked over to where Daphne was standing. She saw him approaching, and smiled sweetly at him. "Hey Daph!" he said as he reached her. He pulled her in for a quick kiss.

"Hey Harry," she responded, still smiling. The smile soon became a smirk. "Now be a good boyfriend and help me with my trunk." she said

Harry then noticed she was still holding her trunk. He hurriedly took it from her, apologizing under his breath. She giggled at this.

"Merlin! This is bloody heavy!" He exclaimed. "How did you even get this on and off the train?"

"Oh stop whining Harry!" she teased.

Soon enough Harry saw the two people he recognized to be her parents walking towards them. Her father, Cyrus, wore elegant deep emerald robes. His neatly trimmed mustache lay right above his lip, and his hair was combed to the side, giving him a neat  
look, which demanded respect. Harry instinctively stood straighter. Her mother also stood equally proud. Her honey blonde hair, similar to Daphne's, tumbled down her shoulders, and she wore deep blue colored robes. She looked very similar to Daphne,  
like Harry had noticed at the hospital wing.

"Hello Daphne," Mr. Greengrass greeted, giving her a small hug.

"Hello father, mother!" she said, excitedly, giving her mother a quick hug as well.

Mr. Greengrass then turned to Harry. "Ah, Mr. Potter, we meet again." he stated. Harry noted Daphne looked confused, and then realized she did not know of their meeting in the hospital wing.

"Pleasure to meet you once again Mr. Greengrass, please call me Harry," he corrected, and turned to face her mother. "It's lovely to meet you again as well, Mrs. Greengrass," he said, shaking her hand.

With an amused look on his face, Mr. Greengrass spoke once again, "I will call you Harry, only if you call me Cyrus," he said

"And me Penelope," his wife interjected. "We won't have any of that Mr. Mrs. nonsense," she said looking at him with a smile. Harry looked at her with an equally bright smile. Then he turned more serious and turned to Cyrus.

"Mr. Gr.. I mean Cyrus," he corrected, "I need to speak with you, if you will" Harry said.

The older man nodded, and motioned for Harry to follow him. Harry obliged, and went behind him, leaving the girls to talk by themselves. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Astoria join the group.

Harry turned to Cyrus and began to speak. "I wanted to talk to you about our meeting? Daphne told me you would be willing to meet over the contract."

Cyrus's looked at him for a little bit. "Yes, she did owl me about it, and I said I would be. However, Harry I appreciate you trying to do what you're doing, but we've looked over this contract ourselves, and I doubt you'd be able to find a loophole,"  
he said with a sigh.

Harry was expecting something like this. "I promised Daphne I would at least try, and I have to. I really do care for your daughter, and I will do anything I can to see this contract dissolved." he said, pointedly.

To this, the man smiled. "Another thing I would like to discuss with you when we meet. I believe you can come over to Greengrass Manor and we can discuss this further. I will ask Daphne to owl you the directions. Now, I fear it is time we must leave,"  
he said as he led the way back to the rest of his family.

Harry shook his hand one more time, and said goodbye to Penelope. Astoria followed her parents, after waving to Harry. Daphne hung behind with Harry for a minute. "I'll miss you," she whispered. Although they had only known each other for a short time,  
and had only just begun dating, Daphne deeply cared for Harry, and she felt very strong feelings toward him.

"I'll see you soon," Harry reassured her, before planting a soft kiss on her cheek. He watched her turn and follow her parents, before making his way back to the Weasleys.

Mrs. Weasley was watching him, with her hands on her hips, and an angry look about her face. Harry instinctively gulped, and slowly trudged his way back to her, dreading what he knew was to come. "Harry Potter! What were you doing associating with the  
Greengrasses?" she demanded once he had gotten close enough.

Harry did not want to have a big confrontation with Mrs. Weasley in front of so many people. She had accepted him as one of her own, and shown him love, and he wasn't going to repay her by being rude. Hopefully she would be accepting of the situation,  
but if not, he would help her do so. "Mrs. Weasley, could we maybe not have this discussion here?" he said in a hushed tone, looking at the people around them.

She huffed, but in the end accepted, and led the way, and Harry followed behind her, with Ron. Hermione had seen her parents, and had said goodbye to them. She would be meeting them at Grimmauld place in a few days.

He and Ron talked while they trudged behind the Weasley matriarch, and the rest of the clan, and made their way to number 12 Grimmauld Place, getting ready for a very bust winter holiday.

* * *

Harry had had quite the eventful first day of break. Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley had been thoughtful enough not to bombard him with questions immediately after they arrived. Harry had walked in with Ron, and they had all filed through the corridor. Ginny  
and the twins had gone up the stairs to their rooms, but Harry continued on. He was looking for his godfather.

"Sirius!" he called out, walking down the corridor, checking in the doors.

He and Ron walked on, followed by Mrs. Weasley. "Sirius!" Harry called once again, to no response. He made his way down the corridor, before reaching the very end, to the closed door to the kitchen. Now Harry was starting to get worried. It wasn't like  
Sirius to not be there when he came back from school, he would have expected Sirius to come see him at once. Slowly he opened the door to the kitchen, and heard the whooshing of ropes.

Before he had time to react, a three bucketful of ice cold had splashed down on his from above. Harry immediately knew what happened. "You mangy mutt! I'll get you for this!" he yelled, shaking the water from his arms, spraying Ron and Mrs. Weasley nearby.

Sirius was in the middle of the room, laughing his arse off. His hands were on his knees, and he was struggling to catch his breath. Mrs. Weasley promptly began shrieking at Sirius for making a mess in the kitchen. The whole situationwas basically  
chaos. Pretty soon, everyone except Molly was laughing.

Finally, Sirius pulled out his wand, and waved it at Harry, who immediately dried up, and the mess on the floor disappeared. Harry pulled Sirius into a fierce hug. "I missed you Padfoot." he said

"I missed you too, pup," he responded, giving Harry's shoulder a reaffirming squeeze. "Now go get cleaned up, we can catch up over dinner."

Harry nodded, and followed Ron up the stairs. "Blimey mate, you better explain bloody well to mum," Ron said as they climbed. "She'll probably not be upset, she's had it in her head that you and Ginny would end up together, you know?"

"Yeah I figured it would take a little to convince her, but I'm sure it won't matter in the end, your mums always been great to me," Harry explained.

Soon they were back downstairs. Harry had freshened up, and the two had made their way to the dining room, and found everyone already there. Ginny, Fred and George sat at one end of the table, Mr. Weasley sat at the other, across from Sirius. Mrs. Weasley  
was still in the kitchen cutting some vegetables. Harry took a seat next to Ron.

"Hello Mr. Weasley! How've you been?" Harry asked

Mr. Weasley beamed at him. "Fantastic actually!"

They talked for a little, and Harry talked to Sirius about the year for a little bit, before another person walked into the dining room.

"Sorry I'm late," Remus Lupin said

"Moony!" Harry said, jumping up to give the older man a hug.

"Hello cub!" Remus said, sitting down next to Sirius. "How've you all been?"

Harry told Remus what he'd been explaining to Sirius before. Soon, Mrs. Weasley sat down at the table as well, and everybody began eating.

"Now, Harry, I waited till now to ask, will you please tell me what you were doing with the Greengrasses at the platform today?" Mrs. Weasley asked

Harry had expected her to bring it up about now, and swallowed his food before responding. Sirius and Remus were also looking at him expectantly. He had of course told Sirius about Daphne, but he was very vague, and never went into much detail.

Taking a deep breath, Harry began speaking. "Well, Mrs. Weasley, I am currently dating Daphne Greengrass..." he started.

At that moment, Harry heard different reactions.

"WHAT?" came the shriek from Mrs. Weasley

On the other hand, Sirius and Remus were roaring with laughter. "Way to go Harry!" Sirius yelled. Then to Remus he said, "Just like James! I tell you!"

The last part made Harry smile.

"If she looks anything like her mother, then I'd say you're one lucky man," Sirius continued with a wink

Harry sighed, "Oh yeah, she's beautiful..." he said with a faraway look in his eye.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Weasley. "Harry! How can you be dating that girl? The Greengrass's are a dark family! For all you know they could be serving you up to You-Know-Who!" She yelled at him

Harry turned to look at her, looking on calmly. On the inside, he was growing angry at the accusations, but kept it inside. "Mrs. Weasley, I trust Daphne with my life. I trust her family as well. Our getting together wasn't necessarily conventional, but  
I'm positive it will work out," he stated, referring to the Malfoy incident. He hadn't told anyone about that, and he wasn't planning to.

Mrs. Weasley looked red in the face. "But Harry, I don't think she's right for you," she started, "And what's this about unconventional?" she demanded.

Ron looked stony faced, but spoke up, "Mum, don't..." he tried, but was cut off.

"No. Harry, explain to me what this is about? Why are you with that Slytherin?" She demanded once again.

Harry finally lost his cool. "I rescued her from getting _raped_ by Draco Malfoy!" he snapped, to which everyone gasped, and spoons clattered onto the table. "Is that good enough of an explanation for you? Mrs. Weasley, I had hoped you would be more  
accepting of her. After all, you are like a mother to me, and it would have been great to have your approval. I guess I was wrong." he said icily. She looked taken aback, and sat in silence. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've lost my appetite." he said,  
getting up, and going up to his room.

He shut the door behind him. He hadn't been too rude, and he really wanted her approval. He decided he would have to time to apologize and convince her tomorrow.

The door opened and Harry turned around to see Ron coming into the room. "Hey mate.." he began

"Listen Ron, I'm sorry for what happened downstairs," Harry began, but was cut off by Ron.

"No, listen, she needed to hear it. She was mostly shocked by that stuff you said about her being like a mother to you." he explained. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "I wouldn't worry about it Harry, she'll come around, just give her some time."

"Thanks Ron," Harry said, truly grateful that he hadn't just made things worse.

The next day was an eventful one as well. Harry had woken up late, and did not wake to Ron's infamous snores. Sirius had given his own room here when they had been there during the summer. It had meant a lot to Harry at the time. He had never truly had  
a room all to himself, and the fact that this was all his was not a familiar feeling for him.

After breakfast, he had been approached by Mrs. Weasley. She had entered his room, timidly, and had began speaking to him.

"Harry?" she asked, "I wanted to talk to you if you didn't mind."

Harry nodded and she entered the room. He began speaking first. "Listen, Mrs. Weasley, I wanted to apologize for last night." he started. "I was quite harsh, and you've been nothing but kind to me. I meant what I said about you being like a mother to  
me"

She smiled warmly at that statement. "No Harry, I was completely out of line saying some of those things about their family," she said. "For that, I am truly sorry," she continued.

Harry was really glad they had been able to make up after the events of last night. It was true that the Weasley clan were most like family to him. Of course, he wasn't expecting Mrs. Weasley to welcome Daphne with open arms, but he would allow her to  
get used to the fact he was dating her.

He had met up with Sirius after that incident. Before leaving Hogwarts, he had shrunken the portrait of his parents and brought it with him. Moony and Sirius deserved to see them, and he was planning on showing them together.

"Hey Padfoot! Where's Moony?" Harry asked when he saw Sirius in the dining room

Sirius smiled and waved at Harry. "He should be wandering around somewhere here."

The two went around the house searching for Remus. It didn't take long to find him, crouched under a cupboard, seemingly inspecting a marking inside it. Sirius put a finger to his lips, indicating Harry to be quiet. The two crept up behind the man, who  
was still oblivious to what was going on.

"AAAAH!" They both yelled together

Remus jumped back, hitting his head in the cupboard. Rubbing his head, and glaring at the two, he spoke. "You bloody wankers, You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he growled.

Harry and Sirius simply began laughing. The two laughed, and were soon joined by Moony as well. Soon, the three were laughing together, holding their sides. Finally, after many minutes, they had calmed down.

"What was it you wanted to talk to us about pup?" Sirius asked.

Harry remembered why he had sought them out in the first place. "Oh yeah, I need to show the two of you something." he said, leading the way to his room.

He motioned the two to sit down on his bed. Slowly, he pulled out the shrunken portrait from within his trunk and began speaking as he set things up. "So, I stopped by Gringotts a while ago, and found this in one of the Potter vaults," he explained, as  
he hung the miniature portrait on the wall. "Would one of you mind unshrinking this for me?" Harry asked, because he couldn't do magic out of school.

The portrait was still too small, and they couldn't make out what it was. Nodding, Sirius pulled out his wand, and waved it at the portrait on the wall. The two older men watched as the portrait grew, and they're eyes widened as they recognized the two  
people on it.

Sirius gasped, and looked from Remus to Harry, and to the portrait again. Remus had a similar reaction. The forms of Lily and James Potter were growing before their eyes on the portrait. Once it was fully grown, Remus reached out and touched the canvas.  
"Do they... Do they move?" he asked softly, as tears welled up in his eyes. Sirius looked on with similar tear tracks running down his face.

Harry nodded. "They're just in a stasis, so they don't have to be awake and bored all the time." he explained. He pulled out his wand, and said clearly, "Activate."

Slowly, the figures stirred, and rubbed their eyes. James opened his eyes first, and smiled widely when he saw his two best friends staring back at him. "Padfoot! Moony! Hey!" He yelled, in a cheerful way. Lily had also woken, and was waving at them with  
a wide smile.

"J-James? L-Lily? Is it really you?" Sirius asked, warily, as tears began flowing more freely from his eyes. Remus looked on in awe at seeing his long lost friend.

James chuckled. "Technically, we both are portraits, but yeah, it is," he said.

"I-I'm so s-sorry for abandoning Harry," Sirius started hysterically. "If I had been there for him, he wouldn't have had to deal with those horrible muggles he lived with!" he exclaimed.

"Sirius, stop, all is forgiven. You were in Azkaban for shits sake!" Lily stated. "You are not to blame, but leave him alone again, and I definitely will not be happy," she added menacingly.

After many moments of silence, Remus spoke for the first time. "I miss you guys so much... It's unacceptable, I left him with the Dursley's. I should have tried harder, I should have..." he cried as he broke down.

Sirius put a hand on the crying man's shoulder, and Harry did as well. "Remus, stop blaming yourself for everything," James said. "You have been there for him now, and that's what matters."

Remus soon had calmed down. The three spent another hour in the company of the portraits, catching up. Before long, Sirius had stood up, and exclaimed that they should leave, or the others would start wondering where they had gone.

Saying goodbye to his parents, Harry once again placed them under stasis. This wasn't considered using magic outside of school, because technically, he wasn't using any magic to activate the portrait, he was just speaking an activation phrase.

Once the door to his room had closed, Sirius turned to Harry. "Thank you for that Harry," he said, sincerely.

Remus also spoke. "Yes, Thank you indeed," he repeated.

"Of course, You deserved to see them, and I needed to show you guys." Harry said.

"Well, if that's it, then I will take your leave Harry," Remus said, giving the boy a hug.

"Bye Moony," Harry said returning the hug himself. Remus departed down one of the hallways. Sirius and Harry began to walk down the stairs to the kitchen.

"We haven't had much time to talk," Sirius started. "If you wanted, I would like to ask you about your new girlfriend," Sirius stated, with a wink. Harry sighed, and nodded. He began retelling the story, from the beginning, their meeting, and what it  
had led to. He retold the story of how he had viciously attacked Malfoy, and how the two had ultimately gotten together. At the end of the story, Sirius was smiling.

"What is it?" Harry asked, getting tired of the smirk on the old dog's face.

Sirius simply laughed again, before beginning to explain himself. "Looks like you've got yourself a keeper, pup," he said. "What do you feel for her though?" he questioned.

Harry thought over the question, before answering. "I can't really describe it, but she's the first thing I think of when I wake up, and the last thing I think of before I go to bed," he tried.

Sirius laughed at this. "Well, you better not muck it up, Potter," he said teasingly. "You've got yourself a great girl, so don't go ruining things,"

Harry nodded, and the two walked down to the kitchen, laughing the whole way there. The two were still laughing when they opened the door, only to see Albus Dumbledore standing there, talking to Mrs. Weasley. As soon as the two walked in, he turned to  
them and smiled.

"Ah, Harry, Sirius, glad you are here, we were just about to come find you." Dumbledore said, with his usual grandfather twinkle in his eyes.

Harry smiled, and walked up to his mentor, and gave the old man a hug. "Hello sir! What brings you here?" Harry asked.

The headmaster looked around the room for a second. "Harry, if you wish to go into a separate room to discuss this situation, we may do so," Dumbledore said.

"No, Its fine," Harry said. He looked around the room. It was only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Sirius there. They were people he trusted with his life. "I trust everyone in this room," He said firmly.

Dumbledore nodded. "Well then, If you recall during our initial meeting this year, we discussed the horcruxes." he started. Everyone in the room gasped involuntarily, except for Harry. "Judging from your reactions, you all are familiar with the concept,  
so we will not have to waste time with that." he continued. "Harry, as I told you before, I believe you have a horcrux residing within your scar," he said, causing everyone to gasp once again, while Harry just stood, unfazed.

"As I told you before, I have found a way that should rid you of it, at Gringotts, using an ancient goblin ritual." Dumbledore explained. Harry nodded, happy that they would finally be able to get the damn thing out of his head. "This process will be  
excruciatingly painful, Harry," Dumbledore warned.

"I understand Professor, but I need to get it out of me," Harry assured the old man.

Dumbledore nodded. "Then I will come by tomorrow around 11:00, and we shall go to Gringotts, and get it out of you once and for all." Harry nodded his thanks. "Now, I do believe that Harry should be able to answer all the questions you undoubtedly have,  
so I will take your leave," He said motioning to the others.

"Goodbye Headmaster," Harry said, before turning back to the others.

Mrs. Weasley pulled out a chair for him, and pointed to it, motioning for him to take a seat. Sirius slowly began speaking. "Explain... Now." he demanded.

So Harry told the three of them what he knew about Voldemort and his horcruxes, and how on that fateful night, he had become an unintentional horcrux himself. He told them about his and Dumbledore's plans for the vacation, excluding the part about trying  
to get Sirius his freedom. He wanted that part to be a surprise.

By the time they let him leave, and their questions had been answered, Harry was very tired. He went directly up to his room, leaving the adults to try to come to terms with all this new information.

Harry drifted off into an uneasy sleep, and the last conscious thought he had was of how glad he was that the bastards soul piece would be removed from him the next day. They would be one step closer to defeating the bloody wanker, but they were just  
getting started.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, sorry it's been a while. A lot of things are going to be happening in the next few chapters. Anyway, hope you guys liked the chapter, and make sure to review.**


	11. The Trial

**A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to address some questions from the reviews. InfinityMask brought up how the portrait Lily would know that Sirius was in Azkaban. Basically, it's been a little bit since Harry initially activated the portrait, (he did so in chapter 6) I said that he talked to them about what has happened since their deaths. I didn't feel the need to write that complete interaction, but maybe I could have made it more specific, so uhhhh... yeah.**

 **Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoy this chapter! Leave some reviews!**

* * *

10:30 found Harry waiting anxiously at the breakfast table. Most of the Weasley children were still asleep, so he was sitting with Mr. Weasley, Sirius and Remus. Remus had arrived around 9:30, and Harry had spent the next hour with Sirius filling him  
in to the situation. He was shocked and upset, as Harry had expected. In all honesty, it was a bit cruel dropping such a major bombshell on them so suddenly.

Harry was impatiently waiting for his headmaster to arrive. He was currently eating breakfast, and was glancing at the clock every other minute.

"Merlin Harry! Calm down! He'll be here soon!" Sirius exclaimed, after the tenth time Harry looked at the clock.

Harry glared at Sirius. "Sorry Padfoot, pardon me for being anxious to get Voldemort's soul out of my bloody head!" He retorted sarcastically. This silenced the older man, and Moony was snickering in the background.

After a little more time passed, Harry heard the crack of apparation, and the door opened, revealing his long bearded mentor. Harry beamed when he saw the old man and immediately stood up.

"Good morning Harry," Dumbledore greeted

"Morning Professor!" Harry responded. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked.

Dumbledore's' eyes twinkled. "Alas, my boy, I already had a rather filling breakfast at the castle, but thank you for asking." he stated. "Now, if you are ready, we can leave."

"Of course!" Harry said.

The headmaster smiled, and waved at the three others in the room. "I'll have him back in a couple of hours," he assured them.

Sirius nodded, and waved to Harry. "Make sure you come back Horcrux free," he joked.

Harry smirked, and waved goodbye to them. Dumbledore walked out of the room, and Harry followed close behind him. The old man paused near the entrance. "Harry if would grasp my left arm, we will be off,"

Hesitantly, Harry did so, prepared for the horrible feeling of apparating. It was over a quick as it had started. He was now standing in a spinning Diagon Alley. He took a minute to steady himself, and the queasy feeling left his stomach. Dumbledore waited  
patiently. Finally, his vision returned to normal, and he nodded to Dumbledore.

The two started walking towards the thundering Gringotts building. "Now Harry, as I have told you before, the ritual will be excruciatingly painful."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I'm prepared for it, it can't be worse than the cruciatus, right?" he asked skeptically.

"Indeed, it will not be as painful as Voldemort's Cruciatus curse, but it will indeed be painful." Dumbledore responded gravely.

"If you don't mind me asking, Professor, what exactly are they going to do in this ritual?" he asked, curiosity overcoming him.

Dumbledore's twinkle returned. "I wondered when you would ask. The goblins informed me that they would be extracting the Horcrux from your scar, and transfer it into another object from one of your vaults. Unfortunately, they are not willing to provide  
an object of their own, so you will have to provide one. Once the soul piece is contained into another object, we will be able to destroy it with the Gryffindor sword, or fiendfyre."

Harry absorbed all the knowledge. "I'm sure I'll be able to find something in the Potter vaults," he stated.

"Good. Now, how are your plans for the trial coming?" Dumbledore enquired.

Harry's smile brightened. "Professor, I told you about the vote of no confidence against Fudge. I was thinking of asking Amelia Bones if she would be interested. I looked up a little of how the Wizengamot works, and the death eater families make up a  
good 40% of the votes. However, between the Potters, Blacks, Longbottoms, Greengrasses, Weasleys, that's a good 40% already. The only problem is I do not know how we can get the Black vote with Sirius being a fugitive."

Dumbledore's smile widened at his students brilliance. "Ah, Harry, I do believe I can help you with that. First off, I assume you were looking to emancipate yourself today at Gringotts. That can be done, and I can help you with that. You see, when your  
parents died, and Sirius was imprisoned, I was named your magical guardian, and since Sirius was imprisoned, and he was your godfather, had he produced no heirs, you would have become the head of house Black once he died." he started. "You only being  
an infant, I became the proxy for both families, and have kept those votes since."

Harry grinned like a madman. The plan was beginning to come together. Before he could respond, however, they had reached Gringotts. "Alas, we shall continue this discussion afterwards," stated Dumbledore.

The goblin guards opened the massive doors for the pair. The two walked in, and Dumbledore proceeded to the head table, and Harry followed closely behind. The headmaster spoke a little to the Goblin sitting at the head of the room. The goblin got up and  
left, but soon returned with several others, and motioned for them to follow.

First, they were taken to the Potter vaults. Dumbledore waited outside for Harry. He returned with a small golden bowl. They were off again.

They were led into a massive circular room, with a stone slab in the middle. The goblins who had accompanied spread out into a wide circle. In the middle, stood Griphook. Harry grinned and proceeded to greet the goblin.

"Hello Griphook!" Harry exclaimed, cheerfully.

The goblin bowed respectively. "Greetings, Mr. Potter" he stated simply. "I am sorry. I heard about the horcrux. To get it out, I need you to take off your shirt and lie flat on your back on the slab," he exclaimed.

Harry nodded, and did so. The stone was cold against his back. He suppressed a shiver, and awaited further instruction.

"This will cause you a great deal of pain," Griphook stated, solemnly. Harry once again nodded. "I'm going to smear this upon your scar, and then we will proceed," he said, showing him a brown paste.

Harry felt the warm paste being smeared across his forehead, and felt a tingling sensation wherever it was applied. Soon, Griphook retracted his arm, and Harry saw him leaving and joining the other goblins in the circle. He heard them begin to chant in  
some foreign language. Harry presumed it was in Gobbledygook.

Harry closed and prepared for the pain. Suddenly, he felt it. Spikes of white hot pain shot through his skull. His head felt like it was splitting in half, and the pain centered around his scar. A warm liquid was running down the side of his head. Harry  
clenched his teeth to keep from screaming out. He tried to open eyes but they were too heavy. He thrashed on the slab, but an invisible force kept him upon the slab.

Slowly the pain faded away, and he opened his eyes. He touched the side of his head, and saw blood on his hands. He traced the trail back up to his scar and gasped when he felt the blood trickling out of it. Looking around, he saw the bowl was glowing,  
and he looked for Dumbledore. He found the old man behind one of the goblins.

Their eyes met, and Dumbledore smiled brightly at him, giving him all the indication he needed that the ritual worked. Griphook approached him as he swung his legs over the side of the slab. The goblin handed him a towel to wipe off the blood mixed with  
the paste from his forehead. "Congratulations, Mr. Potter, we were able to remove the horcrux from within you. The only side effect should be a mild headache."

Harry beamed, and ecstatically thanked the goblin. Rushing over to Dumbledore, he began eagerly chanting. "It worked! It actually worked! Thank you so much headmaster!" He ranted

"Yes, it did indeed work my boy, now let us go back upstairs and discuss the other issues we came here for." Dumbledore suggested. Harry, still smiling, agreed, and they followed Griphook up to a private meeting room.

While following the goblin to the meeting room, Harry thought about what had just happened. Harry was glad to finally be free of the horcrux. Although he had only known of it for a short time, it was still a relief that they had been able to get it out.

The two soon sat in a meeting room across a table from Griphook. "So, Mr. Potter, Mr. Dumbledore, what did you want to speak with me about?" the goblin enquired.

"Well, Griphook, we were looking to get me emancipated, so I could participate in the Wizengamot," Harry started.

Dumbledore continued on with the explanation. "I currently am the proxy for the house of Potter, and Black. I was hoping that I could give the title up today, and Harry would be able to gain it and become head of house Potter."

Griphook listened to both of the humans. "This can be done. In the eyes of Gringotts, Harry Potter is already an adult."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, clearly confused. Dumbledore had a knowing look on his face, as if expecting what was coming.

"Your ministry recognized you as an adult when you were made to compete in the Triwizard tournament last year," Griphook explained.

Harry's eyes widened, as recognition dawned upon him. "So can we do this now? Or will this be a long process?" Harry said, once he recovered from the initial shock.

"Actually, we can complete the process right here," Griphook stated.

Pretty soon, Dumbledore had passed on the vote to Harry, and Harry had been named as the Head of House Potter by Griphook. He now adorned a small inconspicuous ring with the Potter crest on the head of it.

"Thank you Griphook, I don't know if it means much, but I consider you a friend," Harry said honestly.

The goblin bared its teeth, which startled Harry at first, until he realized it was a smile. "Not only do _I_ consider you a friend, the whole _goblin nation_ considers you a friend," the goblin responded.

Harry smiled, and bade farewell to the goblin, before rushing to catch up with Dumbledore. "Professor, did you know already? That I was considered an adult?"

"That I did, Harry" The headmaster answered, providing no other explanation.

Soon, Dumbledore and Harry were both back in Grimmauld Place, after another horrible experience with apparation. They had been gone for a little over two hours.

"Professor, I want to continue our discussion from earlier, about the trial," Harry said, looking down the hallway. Turning back to his professor, "Would you like to join me for supper, and we can talk more?"

"A wondrous idea if I do say so, my boy. I am gracious for the offer." Dumbledore responded.

Harry smiled and led the older man down the hallway to the kitchen. Opening the door, he saw Ron sitting at the table, engrossed in a game of chess with Sirius. Mrs. Weasley was cooking while Mr. Weasley, and Remus were having a heated discussion. Ginny  
was talking with the twins, who were trying to convince her to try one of their new products, in the corner of the room. As soon as they noticed the newcomers, all activity stopped. Sirius and Ron stopped their game at once, and everyone looked towards  
him, waiting for him to let them know the results of the ritual.

After a couple seconds, Harry decided to relieve their tension. "It worked!" He exclaimed.

Different voices began talking excitedly at the same time, and by the time the overlapping voices had stopped, Harry and Dumbledore had already taken their seats at the table. "Hello all," Dumbledore began. "The horcrux was able to be removed by the goblins  
at Gringotts. Harry is now free of the piece of Lord Voldemort which once resided in his scar."

Everyone in the room was beaming at the explanation. "Harry has also graciously invited me to eat dinner here," Dumbledore added.

Mrs. Weasley snapped out of the smile which had just adorned her face. "Of course!" she said, and began levitating all the dishes onto the table. Everyone took their seats.

Harry began the discussion. He hadn't told anyone of the plans he had for the trial yet, except for Dumbledore. "The reason I invited Professor Dumbledore here tonight, was because I wanted to discuss something with him, that you all should know about  
as well," he began.

The others at the table showed various signs of acknowledgement while filling their plates with food. Harry began filling everyone in on the plan. "Today, while we were at Gringotts, I was emancipated, and took over as head of house Potter," he started.

"What? How?" Ron interrupted.

Harry sighed. "The goblins said that according to them I was already, an adult when the ministry recognized me as one last year. When I was forced to compete in the Tournament, they essentially recognized me as of age and an adult. Thus, I was able to  
emancipate myself and claim the head of house." he explained.

Seeing as Ron had understood, Harry continued. "Anyways, the reason I did that, was because I have major plans coming up with the trial against Umbridge." Harry paused. "The trial itself should be easy to get through, but it's what is coming right afterwards  
that is important. Professor Dumbledore told me they usually call for any other issues at the end of trials. I am planning on calling vote of no confidence against Fudge."

The announcement brought gasps from all around the table. Mrs. Weasley spoke up this time. "Harry! How're you going to get that through? You're not exactly very popular amongst the people nowadays!"

Harry smiled at this, and began speaking once more. "I thought that as well. However, I am planning on subjecting to veritaserum, to prove that I was telling the truth about Voldemorts return. This should cause people to lose faith in him. On top of that,  
we already have a great amount of power with us already. Together, the Potters, Blacks, Weasleys, Longbottoms, and Greengrasses make up for 40 percent of the votes. I was planning on reaching out to more families as well. Possibly the Bones, and the  
Abbotts. Kingsley would also be on our side as well. Altogether, we already have the majority of the votes. We could really push for major change."

As Harry kept explaining, eyes widened as they realized the extent of what he was speaking of. So, he continued. "Basically, my plan was to do the vote of no confidence against Fudge. Then I was thinking we could appoint Amelia Bones as the new Minister  
for Magic, or perhaps Kingsley. The reason for all of this will be much more clear after you hear this next bit. After we do this, I was thinking... that we could get Sirius proven innocent."

Harry looked over at Sirius when he said it. He gave him a couple of seconds to process the information. Soon, he saw his godfathers eyes begin to tear up a bit, before he hastily wiped it on his shirt sleeve. "I can't thank you more, Harry," he said  
sincerely.

Sending a quick smile to his godfather, Harry continued to expand on his plan. "Once we replace Fudge, Professor Dumbledore will once again call for any pending issues. Its then that I'll bring up the fact that Sirius never received a trial, and demand  
a fair one. Ms. Bones is a fair woman, from what I have heard, she wouldn't object to it. Sirius, I was thinking you could be there as Padfoot."

"A good idea indeed, Harry," Dumbledore said, after he was through talking. The headmaster stood up, and looked to Mrs. Weasley. "The food was fabulous Molly," he said, before continuing. "Now, I will take your leave. I will see you all soon!" he said  
as he left the room, and they heard the customary crack of apparation.

Harry soon finished his dinner as well, and bid goodnight to everyone, and proceeded to go upstairs to his room. After showering and changing into his nightclothes, he laid down on his bed. There, he slept the best he had in a while.

* * *

A couple days later, Harry was frantically getting dressed. Today was the day he would see Daphne's father. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He was terrified. He was obviously on good terms with the man, they had already met twice before,  
but Harry was nervous anyway.

The day after the horcrux was removed, Hermione had arrived. Together, he and Ron had filled her in about the plan for the trial. She had seemed oddly impressed with him for coming up with it. After reviewing the plan, she gave him some tips and pointers.  
He had also written letters to all the families he needed to about the plans for Umbridges trial, except Daphne's because he was going to tell them in person. He was happy to receive positive replies from the Longbottoms, Bones, and Abbots.

They had spent the day talking, Harry and the Weasleys had spent some time playing Quidditch, while Hermione watched. Overall, it had been a enjoyable day.

Harry spent a couple minutes trying to tidy up his hair, before ultimately giving and rushing down the stairs. It was 10:30 in the morning, and he was expected at Greengrass manor at 11. Daphne had sent him an owl with all the information.

"Morning Pup," Sirius said as he entered the kitchen.

Piling some toast onto his plate, Harry responded "Morning Padfoot,"

"Ah, today's the big day isn't it?" Sirius asked with a smirk. Harry simply nodded. "Make sure you don't make a fool of yourself," he started. "The first time James met your mothers' parents, he switched the Mr. and Mrs." Sirius said, laughing. "He called  
your grandfather Mrs. Evans, and your grandmother Mr. Evans."

Harry laughed with Sirius, while eating the toast. This was the scene a purple haired Mrs. Weasley walked in on. Upon seeing her, Harry roared with even more laughter. It was no doubt Sirius's work.

"Honestly Sirius, you're a horrid influence on him!" she exclaimed. The statement only served to make the pair laugh harder. Mrs. Weasley huffed, before busying herself with other work.

Looking at the time, Harry saw it was 10:50. Eyes widening, he quickly said goodbye to Sirius and Mrs. Weasley before rushing down the hallway to the floo.

Grabbing some floo powder in his hand, he threw it into the flames, while clearly speaking the words "Greengrass Manor!"

Within a second, Harry tumbled through a fire place right onto his face. Picking himself up, he wiped the dust and ash from his clothes. It was then he realized how magnificent the room he stood in was. The size of the room was quite big, and the walls  
were a deep forest green, which reminded him of the Slytherin house. Majestic paintings adorned the walls. Finally he saw the objects which were on the ground. Plush couches were placed parallel to each other with a grand table at the far end of the  
room.

He was so engrossed in admiring the room that he didn't notice when Daphne entered the room.

"Hey Harry!" she exclaimed as she got closer.

Turning to face her, Harry beamed. "Hey Daph! How've you been?" he asked as he pulled her in for a hug.

"I've been fabulous. You know Potter, time away from you does wonders!" she teased. "Anyway follow me, my parents are this way," she said grabbing his hand.

He followed her through a long hallway, till she turned into a room that looked to be a library. Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass were already there. "Hello Cyrus, Penelope," Harry said, addressing the two like they had asked him to.

"Hello Harry," Penelope said politely. "Would you like anything?" she asked. Harry shook his head.

"Welcome to our home," Cyrus said "If you will follow me we can go to my office and discuss matters." he said motioning for Harry to follow. He began walking after smiling at Daphne's mother. Daphne followed after him.

Cyrus led the two to a room with a big oak work table within it. He took a seat on the big rolling chair, while Harry and Daphne took seats next to each other on the opposite side of the table.

"Now Harry, I hear you want to look over the official contract," Cyrus started "Like I said at the train station, We've looked over the contract many times, there just doesn't seem to be a way to get out of it." he stated. "The contract was signed by  
my father, and Theodore Nott Senior. Now if both Heads of House for Greengrass and Nott got together at Gringotts and gave a formal agreement to end the contract, it would work. However, we have reached out to the Notts numerous times to do this,  
and they decline every time."

Harry's mind was processing the information fast, trying to formulate a plan. Cyrus then pulled out an official looking document. "This is the actual contract," he said sliding it towards him. Harry picked it up and began to read. "It states that by the  
time Daphne is 20, she must be wed to Theodore Nott. Failure to do so will result in both her and Nott losing their magic. The contract is void if one of them dies, of if the head of house is sent to Azkaban," Cyrus explained. "And we can't just kill  
Nott."

Harry looked to Daphne and then back to Cyrus. He had thought of something that might work. "What if we can force Nott Snr. to back out of the contract? Or even better, what if we can send him to Azkaban?" Harry asked thoughtfully.

"How do you propose to do that?" Cyrus questioned curiously.

Harry smirked, and proceeded to speak. "I actually wanted to talk to you about it afterwards, but it seems we can use it to free Daphne of her contract as well. There is a Wizengamot trial coming up in the next few days which I am sure you know about.  
It involves me, as its about Umbridge using a blood quill," he said as he held up the back of his hand, showing off the scars. "I was emancipated a couple days ago, so I am the effective Head of House Potter," he said nonchalantly, causing both Daphne  
and her father to gasp in surprise. "This would mean I am part of the Wizengamot, so as per the rules, I can bring up any other issues after the trial. When they call for this, the first thing I will do is call for a vote of no confidence against  
Fudge."

Cyrus was amazed at how far this young man had thought into this. "Fudge will no doubt try to discredit me, so I will submit a memory of that night in the graveyard, and if need be, will submit to veritaserum. Between Houses Potter, Black, Weasley, Longbottom,  
and Greengrass, should you decide to help me with my plan, holds 40 percent of the votes. We're sure that the Bones and Abbot families, as well as the Shacklebolt vote would also sway to our side. This means we would have a majority vote, which also  
means we can push for a ton of change."

Cyrus and Daphne both listened carefully. The plan was quite genius, and they were both more than a little impressed with his ideas. "Harry, with that amount of power, we basically control the whole Wizengamot!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed we could. I must say Harry, this is a very well thought out plan, you definitely have our support." Cyrus assured.

Harry beamed. "And I thank you for that. After getting rid of Fudge, I planned on having Amelia Bones replace him. I have heard she is just and fair. Finally, I will bring forth one more topic: Sirius Black." Harry said. He thought he could trust them  
enough to tell them. "Sirius Black is my godfather. To the public, he is a mass murderer, death eater, and betrayer of my parents, but that's not true. He wasn't the secret keeper of my parents. He was a fake, he was the most obvious choice, so they  
switched secret keepers at the last minute. The real secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew."

Cyrus interrupted him, asking "Wouldn't they have found this out at the trial?" he asked with a little bit of skepticism etched on his face.

"That's the thing, he was never given a trial! He tracked the rat down, but when he found him, Peter yelled out some bullshit about how Sirius betrayed my parents and then blew up the street and cut off his finger and escaped in his animagus form. The  
idiot was found in the street laughing because they all got tricked by Peter of all people. In third year, when Sirius broke out, he came to Hogwarts to find Peter, who was hiding as my friend Rons pet rat." Harry explained. "At the end of the year,  
we finally found out when we met Sirius and Remus Lupin in the shrieking shack, and they explained everything to us. We caught the rat that day, but it was a full moon and Remus transformed into a werewolf, and we lost Pettigrew. Sirius was injured  
and at the black lake where I caught up to him, we were attacked by hundreds of dementors. Sirius was captured again, and me and Hermione had to use a time turner to go back and free him again," he finished, out of breath. He hadn't meant to tell  
the whole story, but it had all just sort of been blurted out.

Cyrus was shocked as well as impressed once again that a thirteen year old had done all that. "So he's innocent," he said after a little bit.

Harry nodded. "Back to Daphne's contract, like I said I'm going to submit my memory of the night in the graveyard to get the vote of no confidence against Fudge."

Cyrus, still not understanding, asked, "So?"

Daphne though, had realized and her eyes widened.

"So, Nott was one of the death eaters who came when Voldemort called in the graveyard,"

* * *

It was three days after the New Year, and Harry was sitting in a courtroom. The trial would start in ten minutes. He was relatively confident about it, he had gone through it multiple times in his head. He was excited, he would be effectively killing  
many birds with one stone.

In no time, his headmaster, as the supreme mugwump called for silence. "On this day, January 4th, the Wizengamot holds their 731st meeting to decide the guilt or innocence of Dolores Jane Umbridge. She is accused of employing the use of blood quills for  
punishment on schoolchildren. Does the accused have anything to say?"

Umbridge looked almost as red as a tomato, nearing the famous Weasley red. "These are preposterous lies!" she shrieked. "They are no doubt told by that half blood bastard Potter!" She was about to say something else before she was silenced.

Fudge looked very nervous that his spy in Hogwarts had been found out. No doubt he knew of the blood quill, and Harry was betting on it. It would help greatly in the vote of no confidence. "D-do you have any evidence to go with this claim of yours?" he  
asked Dumbledore.

Although the question was addressed to Dumbledore, it was Harry who answered. "Of course, Minister. I was called into detention multiple times by _Professor_ Umbridge, who would make me write lines using a blood quill. I was to write 'I must not  
tell lies' until the message 'sunk in'" he responded, holding up his hand, to show off the scars.

At this, Harry heard many gasps from the rest of the Wizengamot, mostly the parents. Fudge tried to speak up once again. "And how do we know that your evidence isn't falsified Potter?" He spat.

Harry smirked. "You don't, but we have two others who also went through a similar experience." Fudge's face resembled one that had just sucked on a lemon at this. They had managed to find out that both Lee Jordan and Collin Creevey had both been subjected  
to the wretched quill. The two were brought out to tell their accounts.

Harry was smiling to himself. Everything was falling in place, and this wasn't even the main event! Finally, the two boys had finished their stories, and Fudges face was pale. He was close to being found out himself.

The disgraceful minister called for the toad to speak in her own defense. When they undid the silencio, she was once again ranting. "This is outrageous! These are all lies no doubt told by the Potter boy to discredit our minister! No doubt this is a plot  
by the boy and Dumbledore to usurp the ministry!" She yelled, having no idea how close to the truth she was.

"So, you'd be willing to testify under veritaserum?" came the voice of Amelia Bones, stopping Umbitch in her tracks. There was no doubt that Amelia despised the toad of a woman and Fudge.

"What?"

"If you're so sure these are lies, you wouldn't mind going under veritaserum. Then you can prove your innocence," Amelia continued, a mad glint in her eyes.

Fudge knew he was screwed now. "Now now Amelia there is no need to make the situation wor-" he tried, but was cut off.

"No, I believe we should call for a trial by veritaserum..." she began, making eye contact with Harry, and giving him an imperceptible nod, before continuing. "All those in favor?"

As expected, the Heads of Houses Weasley, Greengrass, Bones, Abbot, Longbottom, Dumbledore for the Blacks, Shacklebolt, and finally Harry himself raised their hands almost immediately. A few more minor houses like Mclaggen and MacMillan also voted for  
a vote by veritaserum. Even without them, it still would have been an overwhelming vote.

The Wizengamot had decided, and Umbridge was forced into her seat, and aurors had to forcefully give her three drops of the clear, odorless potion. After the potion was administered, Amelia began the questioning.

"What is your full name?" She asked, to make sure the potion was working properly.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge" came the slow, monotonous answer.

"Are you or have you ever been in possession of a blood quill?"

"Yes, one was given to me"

"Did you ever use this blood quill on any students as a form of punishment?"

"Yes, I used it on the Potter brat and mudbloods to put them in their place"

Harry looked at the minister. The man was visibly shaking, and sweating profusely. Harry smile only grew with the next question.

Amelia eyed the minister, before asking the question. Slowly she turned back to Umbridge. "Did Minister Fudge have knowledge of the blood quill, and what it was being used for?"

Fudge's eyes bugged out. "Amelia! This is outrageous! Aurors arrest this wom-" he started as he panicked. Before he could finish his statement, however, Umbridge began to speak her answer.

"Yes, Minister Fudge was the one who gave me the blood quill, and advised me on how to use it,"

Silence spread throughout the room. Harry laughed quietly. This was going to be easier than he thought.

Finally, Fudge broke the silence. "Clearly, there is an error, that isn't true..." he tried, shifty eyed.

"No minister, the potion seems to be working fine. I believe that should be all," she said with the smallest hint of a smile playing on her usually stern face. After administering the antidote, she spoke once again. "Now the Wizengamot must vote on the  
guilt of the accused. Those who vote guilty?" she asked. Like last time the allied houses raised their hands. As they were the majority, they obviously, and Umbridge was heavily fined, and sentenced to 15 years in Azkaban, 5 years for every student  
she used the blood quill on.

Finally, after what had seemed like forever, the trial was over and Dumbledore stood. "Now at the end of the 731st Wizengamot meeting, are there any other issues anyone wishes to present?"

Harry took a deep breath before standing up. "Supreme Mugwump, I, Head of House Potter have something for the Wizengamot today." he said clearly. For a whole three seconds, it was silent before murmuring began between the Houses that weren't in on the  
plan.

"Lord Potter, please proceed," Dumbledore said, motioning for him to continue.

Taking a deep breath once again, Harry looked at Fudge, and then Dumbledore, before beginning to speak. "I move to take a vote of No Confidence against Minister Fudge."

This time the murmurs were instantaneous. As soon as he said the words No Confidence, people were whispering madly between themselves.

"What? That's ridiculous, you're after my position! That's what this is about! You're going to give it to Dumbledore! I was right!" Fudge began yelling at top speed.

Harry smirked at the mans obvious panic, before speaking once again. "Let us begin with Minister Fudge's many mistakes. Minister Fudge has time and time again claimed me, as well as Dumbledore, to be liars, and that we are lying about Voldemorts return,"  
he began, pausing as so many people shuddered at the use of the Dark Lords name. "well today I can prove that I was not lying, andthat the threat is a very real one. I will be submitting a memory of that night in the graveyard to be viewed here."  
he said, looking pointedly at Nott Snr. After saying this, he drew a vial from his robe, and handed it to Dumbledore. Dumbledore in turn brought out the Wizengamot's pensieve, which displayed the memory like a projector.

And so Harry, along with the rest of the Wizengamot watched that fateful night. He had started from when him and Cedric had agreed to grab the cup at the same time. The memory ended when he had accio'ed the portkey and they had landed back at Hogwarts.  
When they got to the part where Voldemort called his death eaters, he saw Amelia taking notes. He smirked as he saw Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Nott Senior, as well as the other death eaters present panic after being exposed. By the end, there was  
an eerie silence. Harry cleared his throat, "As you can see, I was indeed telling the truth about his return. I believe there are some of Voldemorts death eaters in this very room..." Harry said with a slight smile playing across his face.

The aurors closed in around all the death eaters. Nott frantically tried to escape, but Harry shot him with a silent stunner, before continuing to talk about Fudge. "Not only has he set us back in the fight against Voldemort, but as you can see," he said  
motioning to the death eaters who were being hauled away, "he was taking council with so many of his death eaters."

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and stood up. Harry was pleasantly surprised at this and sat down. "Let us also not forget that earlier today, we learned that _Minister_ Fudge gave Delores Umbridge a blood quill, AND told her to use it on students.  
I believe it is self explanatory why this vote of No Confidence should be taken." Mr. Weasley said, before sitting down.

Harry was impressed. He had always respected Mr. Weasley, but the man had always been more of a soft spoken and nervous person. He had never seen this side of him, but he couldn't say he didn't like it.

Dumbledore spoke again to take the vote. "All those in favor of keeping Cornelius Fudge as the Minister of Magic?"

Almost no hands went up.

"All those in favor of sacking Cornelius Fudge?"

Almost all the hands went up.

"The Wizengamot has voted, as of now, Cornelius Fudge is no longer Minister of Magic. As we currently have no Minister, we must now elect a new one. Are there any nominations at this time?"

A man Harry did not recognize stood up yelled the name "Amos Diggory!"

Although Harry liked the man, even after hardly ever meeting him, he did not believe him to be a good fit for Minister of Magic. Now, Augusta Longbottom stood up. "I nominate Amelia Bones," she said clearly.

Nobody else stood up and nobody else was nominated.

"If that is all, we will vote between Amos Diggory, and Amelia Bones. All those in favor of Amos Diggory?"

A couple hands here and there went up, but nobody important.

"All those in favor of Amelia Bones?"

Those who were part of the allied houses had already agreed to this, and many more people voted for Amelia as well. It was established, Amelia was the new Minister of Magic.

Once more, Dumbledore asked, "At this moment, are there any more issues to be presented before the Wizengamot?"

This was it, this was the part Harry had most anticipated. Once again, he stood up. He caught whispers of "again?" in the crowd.

"I have one more issue to bring before the Wizengamot. It is the matter of Sirius Black," Harry said, which caused the whole chamber to erupt into furious whispers. "Sirius Black is innocent," he calmly stated, before going on to explain. "He wasn't the  
real secret keeper of my parents. Peter Pettigrew was. Sirius was the obvious choice, and so he was the decoy. It was switched to Peter at the last minute, so everybody just thought it was Sirius. It was Pettigrew who sold my parents out to Voldemort,"  
he uttered, as he saw peoples faces contorting to one of curiosity as well as skepticism.

Cyrus stood up this time, and just like he had the first time, asked "Wouldn't this information have come up during his trial?"

Harry grinned. "Well, Lord Greengrass, that's the thing, he never received a trial!" Gasps echoed through the chamber. "Yes he never received a trial. If he had, then he would have told how he had tracked Peter Pettigrew down to a muggle village, where  
the rat shouted about how Sirius betrayed my parents, before blowing up the whole street, cutting off his finger, and escaping in his animagus form, which is a rat," Harry explained. "My godfather, being the idiot he is, was laughing when he was found  
by aurors. He was laughing about how they were all tricked by Peter."

"How can we prove the validity of your claim Mr. Potter?" Amelia questioned. Although she already knew everything, they still had to make it official, so questions like this were necessary.

"If I was assured that it would be a just trial, and no harm will come to him, then I will bring in Sirius Black for a trial." Harry announced.

Amelia nodded. "You have my word," she assured.

Harry pulled out his two way mirror. "Sirius Black," he whispered into it. Sirius' face popped up onto the mirror screen. "Sirius, come in" he whispered once again.

Almost as soon as he said it, the doors opened and Sirius walked in. Most people gaped at him, used to his crazed face on the poster. He looked way more normal than he was depicted. Even Amelia seemed surprised. According to Sirius, before he had been  
imprisoned, him and Amelia had had a thing together.

"That was fast!" She exclaimed, before she snapped out of her daze. "Let's begin,"

Soon enough, Sirius was sitting in the chair in the middle of the room, and the veritaserum was administered.

Amelia began the questioning. "What is your full name?"

"Sirius Orion Black"

"Were you or have you ever been a death eater?"

"No"

"Have you ever helped Voldemort in any way?"

"No"

"Were you the secret keeper for Lily and James Potter?" she asked.

"No, Peter Pettigrew was, I was just the decoy. I was the predictable choice, so we chose Peter to throw them off," Sirius replied.

The answer convinced the few who still doubted him.

"Did you kill the 13 muggles and Peter Pettigrew?" she asked finally.

"No, that was Peter as well. I had finally tracked him down, but he set me up, by blowing up the whole street, and then cutting off a finger. He escaped in his animagus form, which is a rat."

Deeming that it was sufficient, Amelia administered the antidote, and nodded at Dumbledore. "The time has come to vote once more, on the innocence or guiltiness of Sirius Black. All in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?"

Like all the previous times, the result was just how Harry wanted. In the end, Sirius walked out of the room a free man. He was charged a minor fee for being an unregistered animagus, and was forced to register. Then, he was given 30,000 galleons for  
each year he had spent in Azkaban as compensation.

Dumbledore stood once again, for a final time. "At this time, are there any more issues to present to the Wizengamot?"

Nobody stood, or spoke.

"If that is all, this concludes the 731st Wizengamot meeting." he announced. With that the meeting was over. Harry was happy. After a long time, things were finally going his way. Everything seemed to be alright... for the time being.

Chairs scraped the floor as people clamored out. As Harry was leaving he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Mr. Diggory. His eyes were welled up with tears. "Harry, I'm sorry for what you went through at that graveyard..." the older man  
said. "I want to thank you for what you did for my son. I saw the memory, It was all because of that godforsaken tournament"

Harry was speechless, but finally found his tongue working. "Mr. Diggory, Its fine I did what I could. If only I hadn't convinced him to take it with me, he would still be her-" he started before he was stopped.

"Don't blame yourself Harry, Cedric was honorable, but his death is not on you," Mr. Diggory said sternly. "I just want to let you know, don't think I didn't notice your little alliance," he said with a slight smile. "You all were quite coordinated. Don't  
worry, I just want you to know that from now, you have my allegiance,"

Harry beamed at the man, before saying goodbye and leaving the room. He caught up with Mr. Weasley and the two headed back to the burrow with Sirius. Yes, things were finally going his way.

* * *

 **Hey guys, finally the trial is over. It made this chapter a lot longer than usual, but I'm glad its done with. I didn't like writing it very much, I found it quite repetitive and boring.**

 **Also, sorry for the too long of a wait. I recently went on vacation, and right after that, I moved all the way across the country, so things have been very hectic. Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter, i'll update soon!**

 **PS: Still looking for a beta. PM if interested.**


	12. The Attack

**A/N: Holy hell I haven't updated in a while. Don't really have an excuse, life just happened I guess. Well, heres the next chapter, hopefully you'll like it. Please review!**

* * *

Daphne's father had just returned home after the trial. He had seemed happy when he had arrived. Racing down the stairs, she went up to meet him. "How was it?" She asked excitedly.

"Oh it was great! It all went according to plan, and Sirius Black is now cleared of all charges!" Her father responded. "And, as Harry had said, Nott Snr. was thrown into Azkaban, and so your betrothal contract will be deemed void!"

Daphne grinned widely. She conversed with her father for a little bit, before excusing herself to her room. She wanted to write to Harry, and congratulate him and his godfather. It was about 6:30, and she presumed if she sent the letter soon, she wouldget  
a reply the next morning.

She picked up her quill and her paper and began writing.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _Congratulations! I heard the trail went well and Sirius is free! I'm so happy for you guys! I also want to thank you so much for getting rid of my contract. I know it wasn't really your problem but you helped me with it anyway, and for that, I am forever grateful. I can't wait to see you at school. Surprisingly, I've actually missed you. Jokes asi-_

Daphne's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden crash coming from downstairs. She heard her father yelling something, and hurried out of her room to find out what was up. Standing at the top of the stairs, she looked over the balcony.

"Daphne!" She heard her father say. "Go find Astoria, and the both of you go find your mother!"

She looked at him with worry in her eyes. What was going on? "Dad, whats happening?" She asked, trying to understand.

"The wards were tripped, I think its Death Eaters," he said gravely. "They've put up anti-apparition wards and blocked the floo as well. Go, NOW!"

She was jolted out of her thoughts and rushed after her sister. The last she saw, her father had sent a patronus to alert aurors of what was happening. Barging into her sisters room, she looked around frantically. "Astoria! Where are you?"

No response.

Rushing out of the room, she tried to think of where the girl could be. Knowing Astoria, she would have been in the greenhouses, tending to the plants. She had a love of all things that grew, so many evenings found the youngest Greengrass in the greenhouses.

Daphne didn't even think twice before rushing outside. There was a stone pathway which led to the greenhouse, and she ran along it, hoping nobody had gotten inside the wards yet. Throwing open the door to the first greenhouse, she saw her little sisterstanding  
over a purple plant. Astoria noticed her, and looked at her quizzically.

"Daphne? Whats wrong?" She asked.

"Death eaters... Breaching the wards..." explained a breathless Daphne. "We... have to get out of here."

The smaller girls eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and she rushed to her sisters side. The two took off back to the house.

"Look boys! Its Potters bitch!" Came a voice.

 _Oh no, we're so close._ Daphne thought. _Just a little farther._

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Different colors of spells shot over her head. she finally turned around, wand in her hand. "Keep going Tori!"

"What? No!" The smaller girl tried to protest.

"Just go! I'll be right there! Get dad!" Daphne reassured.

There were three of them advancing towards her. Their silver masks glinted as the sun was going down, and their long black robes trailed behind them. Making sure Astoria was still heading to the house, Daphne raised her wand, and shot the first spellshe  
could think of.

" _Stupefy!"_ she yelled. To her dismay, the Death Eater in the middle simply batted it away, and sent a barrage of dangerous looking spells her way. Her eyes widened, and she dove behind a nearby boulder to take cover.

Her breathing was sharp, as she peered around the boulder. The three were still coming. _Think Greengrass_.

She came out from her hiding place with a shield up, and the spells started immediately. She saw red and orange colored spells splashing against her shield. The shield would break eventually. In the lapse between their spells, Daphne shot off a spellof  
her own.

" _Rictusemra!"_

She knew it wouldn't work at all, but she just needed time to make it back to the house. Laughter could be heard, and the spells stopped.

"The bitch tried to use a tickling charm. Thats cute." One of them said.

"Let me show you what real magic is," the other one said, raising his wand. Daphne was a couple seconds too late with her shield and was nicked by a bludgeoning hex, and flew back a couple feet, hitting her head against the stones on the path.

Before any more spells could be shot at her, she heard her fathers voice. "Back away from my daughter, you bastards," he growled. Daphne lifted her head weakly and saw her mother and father walking towards her with their wands drawn.

"Ah, _Lord_ and _Lady_ Greengrass. Just who we came here to see. Tell me Greengrass, did you really think it was wise to align yourselves with the Potter brat?" One of the death eaters leered.

"Thats none of your concern," Cyrus stated, as Penelope motioned for Daphne to stay behind them. With that, Cyrus fired off three spells which she couldn't identify. Her mother immediately began shielding him. They worked as a team, and in Daphne's opinion,it  
was beautiful.

"You shouldn't have tested the Dark Lord!" One of them screamed out, amidst the fight.

But slowly, the Death Eaters were being pushed back. Daphne watched in awe the duel that was happening. Colored spells were being shot back and forth, and it seemed her parents were winning.

That was only until a purple spell got through her mothers shield. The violet ball of light broke through the shield, and sped past her mother. It seemed like things were going in slow motion, as the spell grazed by her father as well. She watched withwide  
eyes as the spell flew past both her parents, and right towards her. It impacted her abdomen with a flash of light, and she felt a burning sensation where it had hit. Looking down at herself, she felt warm liquid running down her stomach, anda  
spot of red which was slowly growing bigger.

She looked back up at her parents, who looked at her with intense worry in their eyes. "Daphne!" Her mother screamed. They dared not drop their shields and run to her, and were helpless in the situation.

The pain finally hit her, and it was likeshe was being burned from the inside. Daphne's vision darkened around the edges, and she felt her knees give in. Her small body crumpled to the ground, and the last thing she could hear was the booming soundof  
the anti-apparition wards being broken, and the telltale pops of apparition, as the aurors arrived at the scene.

* * *

The rest of the holiday went by fairly quickly, and soon, Harry found himself and the Weasley clan and Hermione on platform 9¾. Sirius had come to see him off, enjoying his newfound freedom. Still, people were wary, and stared at him in shock, but hedidn't  
care. He was finally free.

Harry checked his watch, which read 10:50. He decided it was time to board the Express, and hugged Sirius goodbye.

"I'm glad you're free, Padfoot," he said.

Sirius smiled. "It's all thanks to you pup."

"i'll miss you," Harry said after a couple seconds.

There was a mischievous grin upon Sirius's face. "Oh don't worry, we see each other much sooner than you think." he said.

Harry knit his eyebrows together as he followed his two best friends, and pulled his trunk onto the train, trying to understand what he meant. They had found an empty compartment, and placed their trunks on the overhead racks when the door slid 's  
first instinct was that it was Malloy coming to instigate them as he usually did, before he remembered that the git no longer attended Hogwarts. A smile grew on his face as he turned to look at who it was.

Neville and Luna strode into the compartment, and they too somehow fit their trunks on the overhead racks. Harry shot Neville a mischievous grin, before taking a seat next to Ron, leaving him a spot next to Hermione. The boys face flushed, and he audiblygulped  
before sitting down next to her.

"What's wrong Neville?" asked Hermione, noticing his behavior

"N-nothing," he stammered quickly, before glaring at Harry. "Oh yeah, congratulations by the way, Harry, I heard about the trial from my Gran. She was quite impressed with you."

"Thanks, in your next letter to her, make sure to let her know that the help was appreciated," Harry responded.

Neville nodded, just as the train lurched forward. Their journey back to the castle was underway. Pretty soon, Hermione and Ron had to leave for their prefects meeting, and it was just Neville, Harry, and Luna left in the compartment.

"So, Luna, how'd your holiday go?" Harry asked, trying to fill the silence.

"Oh very nice, thank you for asking Harry. Daddy took me to France to see if we could find an Umgubular Slashkitler. Unfortunately we must have missed him by a couple days, as he wasn't there." She explained with her usual dreamy voice.

Harry, unsure how to respond, just hesitantly smiled. "Oh, well... that's nice I suppose." he said. Just then, the door slid open and the trolley witch asked if they wanted any sweets as usual. It was around this time Harry wondered why he hadn't goneand  
seen Daphne yet. He hadn't seen her since he had gone to her house to speak with her father. In fact he hadn't even received a letter from her in the past few days. Excusing himself, he walked up and down the corridors a couple times, before hefound  
Blaise and Tracey in a compartment, but no Daphne.

Entering the compartment, he smiled before asking, "Have you seen Daphne? I can't seem to find her, but I assumed she would be with you guys."

Tracey looked back at him with similar confusion. "We haven't seen her either, which is strange because she didn't tell me that she wasn't coming on the express. Hopefully we'll see her when we get to school."

Harry looked at her thoughtfully. "Yes, hopefully. Thanks anyway," he said, waving goodbye.

As he walked back to his compartment, he couldn't fathom a reason as to why she wasn't on the train. Maybe she would be flooing to Hogwarts? Or maybe Portkey?

 _Hopefully she'll be there when we arrive_.

The rest of the ride went by quickly, and soon they were changing into their school robes. Ron and Hermione had arrived earlier, and he'd told everyone that Daphne wasn't there.

"It'll be fine mate, there's probably a good reason for it," said Ron reassuringly.

Harry smiled and nodded his head, but he couldn't place the nagging feeling he had in the back of his head.

* * *

Daphne hadn't been there at the feast either, and Harry was starting to get increasingly worried. He tried to focus on the announcements Dumbledore was making. The defense against the dark arts seat was still empty, so he assumed they hadn't found a replacementyet.

He tuned in to what the headmaster was saying. "As many of you already knew, Dolores Umbridge was recently sacked and sent to Azkaban for the use of a blood quill on students," he began. The people who hadn't known gasped in shock. "it was also at thistrial  
where Sirius Black was proven innocent of all charges." People began whispering amongst themselves. "SILENCE!" came Dumbledores booming voice. "As such, I'd like you all to join me in welcoming your new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher,

Sirius Black"

With that, the great halls doors burst open, and a madly grinning Sirius strode in confidently. Obviously he had wanted to make a grand entrance. Harry's jaw dropped. So this was what the mutt had meant at the station. Gazing up at the headmaster, hesaw  
mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, "Reckon classes will be a load more fun!"

Hermione gave him a mock glare. "Yes, and I bet we'll _learn_ a lot more too," she added.

Harry was still in shock. This was great! Obviously this was a surprise for him, and he was starting to think that things were finally going well in his life.

Harry smirked when he saw Snape's facial expression. His greasy hair framed his permanent sneer, as he looked on in disgust.

Sirius, on the other hand, looked ready to burst with excitement. He stood up near Dumbledore and began to speak. "Well, I have to say it's very nice to be in this hall after so many long years. I hope I'll be able to teach all of you many things. If  
/you all promise to try your best in my class, I'll promise not to revert to my 'madman' days and murder you all," he joked. "With that being said, I look forward to having fun with all of you," he finished as he took his seat next to Professor Sprout.

As soon as his arse hit the seat, there was a rush of color. When it was all clear, the students saw each of their teachers sporting different colored hairstyles. Snape had a bright neon green mohawk, whilst Professor Mcgonagall had an orange bangs. Dumbledoresonce  
grey beard was now a brilliant hot pink while the hair upon his head which stuck out from underneath his pointy hat was baby blue in color.

There was a couple seconds of complete silence, in which Sirius was grinning madly, until the whole Great Hall burst into laughter. Even some of the professors where laughing, Mcgonagall included.

It seemed Sirius had managed to silence Snape beforehand, because the man was screaming bloody murder, except no sound was coming out.

It was a while before Dumbledore could bring back order in the hall. "A very big thanks to our new DADA teacher for that spectacular demonstration. May I ask my boy, how long these will last? While I do enjoy the colors, I prefer my regular hair overthis."

"Bah, it should hopefully wear off in the hour," Sirius responded nonchalantly.

With that, the feast commenced, and the affair was soon over. When they were dismissed, Harry told the others to go on without him.

"I'll catch up with you guys later, I need to speak with Dumbledore."

He walked upto the teachers tables and found Sirius first. "You bloody wanker! Why didn't you tell me?"

Sirius looked back innocently. "I wanted to surprise you," he replied. "It was a pretty good surprise if I do say so myself. I mean the look on your face was just hilarious"

"Oh and that prank was bloody brilliant by the way," Harry said. "I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore, would you care to join me?"

"Why not, I've got nothing better to be doing."

And so the two walked up to the headmasters office. As usual he know they were there before they even knocked.

"Ah, Mr. Black, or should I say Professor Black now, I'm a bit surprised you've already found your way here on the first night back, although I shouldn't be. You were in here quite a bit during your school years" Dumbledore teased, before looking at Harry.  
"Hello Harry. I assume Sirius is here accompanying you?"

Harry nodded. "Professor, I actually came to ask about Daphne. She wasn't on the Express today, and she wasn't at dinner either."

Dumbledore looked at him gravely before answering. "A couple days ago, the Greengrass family home was attacked by death eaters," he said with a sad look in his eyes.

"WHAT? What happened? Is she okay?" Harry asked frantically.

Dumbledore sighed. "Miss Greengrass was hit by an unidentifiable curse, and was taken to Saint Mungos. Fortunately nobody else was injured in the attack as aurors were on the scene relatively quickly. The healers have informed me that she is indeed recovering,and  
should be able to return to us quite soon."

Harry let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He was relieved yet worried at the same time. "Were any of the Death Eaters identified?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, they all had masks on, and none were captured. There were five, two of whom were incapacitated by Lord Greengrass. Unfortunately, they awoke and escaped before aurors could reach the scene. The other three apparated away when aurors arrived  
/as well." Dumbledore responded.

"How come the Prophet didn't get word of this? And why weren't we told of the incident?" Asked Sirius before Harry could comment.

"Apparently, Lord Greengrass holds some sway over the Prophet, and expressly asked the story not be printed. As for your second question, it was simply a matter of time. The attack only occurred two nights ago."

"One more thing, headmaster. Why did the Death Eaters attack the Greengrasses?" Harry asked, already fearing the answer.

Dumbledore looked at him with regret in his eyes. "Word of your relationship with Miss Greengrass has gotten out. I assume the attack was to get to you through her..."

Harry nodded very slowly. "So... they were attacked because of me." He stated. "Daphne is at Saint Mungos because she was in a relationship with me."

"Pup! How can you think like that! None of this is on you! I guarantee nobody blames you for what happened." Sirius said, trying to reassure him.

"What do you mean? If Daphne hadn't been involved with me then none of this would have happened!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry my boy, what happened already happened, and as I said, she's recovering! She's going to be okay!" Dumbledore tried.

"Still, professor, she was targeted because of me! I'm just going to go now, I'm too tired to even think about this anymore." Harry said, before wordlessly walking to the door and going back to the common room.

Neither Sirius or Dumbledore tried to stop him, and looked at him go with regret in their eyes.

Only a few people were left in the common room by the time he got there, so he quickly went to his dormitory and went to bed after changing. That night, for the first time in a while, he had nightmares.

Suddenly he was back in the graveyard, watching Cedric die again. As soon as the scene from his life ended, it started back up again. Only this time it was Ron who died, and then Hermione, and then Neville, and then Sirius, until finally, he was in thegraveyard  
with Daphne.

They portkeyed into the graveyard. He watched in terror as the green killing curse engulfed her body and threw her back, and woke up crying.

Harry barely got anymore sleep that night.

* * *

Daphne stirred in her sleep. She heard voices speaking around her as she tried to remember where she was. The events of that night came back to her and her eyes opened immediately.

She was laying in a bed, and everything looked white. She saw her mother and father sitting in chairs to her right, and a monitor to her left. Her father saw her awake and rushed to her side.

"Daphne! You're awake!" He exclaimed, closely followed by her mother.

"Where am I?" Daphne asked, although she already had a guess.

Her mother answered this time. "You're at Saint Mungos," she explained, confirming Daphne's theory. "You passed out after being hit by an unidentifiable curse. The nurses said that the curse could have been fatal if we hadn't come when we did. God, DaphneI  
thought I lost you!"

"What happened?" Daphne asked, "It all happened so fast."

Cyrus sighed, before responding. "Well, it started at around 7. That loud crash you most surely heard was the sound of the wards around our house being broken. It shouldn't have been that easy for them to be broken, so they will need to be reinforced,"he  
began. "When I saw you, I assumed Astoria was in her room, so I sent you to find her. Obviously she wasn't there. You should have alerted me immediately instead of rushing off by yourself," he reprimanded her sternly.

Daphne looked away from him. She should have thought it through. It had been a stupid mistake, and she shouldn't have acted like a pigheaded Gryffindor.

"Anyway, I went around to the front of the house, and found two Death Eaters waiting for me there. They almost got the drop on me, but your mother found me and helped me stun them. We were about to tie them up for the aurors when Astoria came runningto  
us saying you were in trouble," Cyrus continued. "I have to say I'm proud of you. You were able to hold your own against three of them until we came."

Daphne once again looked away. "I wasn't able to protect myself. If you hadn't come, then I would probably be dead right now," she intoned.

"Daphne, you held your ground against three fully trained wizards, using dark magic. That in itself is a great feat," her mother said reassuringly.

Cyrus nodded his head. "After you got hit by the curse, the aurors arrived, and the remaining Death Eaters fled. Unfortunately, the ones we had previously stunned had woken up and they too fled. To be honestly, we were too worried about you to care."

"Im sorry," Daphne said.

"What? You have nothing to be sorry for," her father exclaimed.

Daphne thought for a few seconds. "Why were there anyway? I'm guessing it has to do with Harry," She asked. "Oh no, he's probably beating himself up over it!"

"Word must've gotten out about your relationship with him, and also may have been due to my actions at the trial that day. One of the Death Eaters yelled at me about joining the wrong side," Cyrus explained. "Astoria has already gone back to school, andhopefully  
you should be able to soon, if you're up for it."

Daphne simply nodded. She could barely feel the pain, but that was probably because of numbing potions. She gingerly touched her abdomen, feeling the bandages. Slowly, she began undoing them, and looked down to see a red, circular scar, on the left sideof  
her body, stretching from her belly button to her lowest rib.

"The doctors said the wound was expanding. Apparently, it kept eating away at the flesh around it and growing. They were luckily able to stop the growth and reverse most of the damage. They also said that hopefully, the scarring should be minimal, andwill  
fade away with time," her mother said, seeing the look on Daphne's face.

Once again, Daphne just nodded. In reality, she was feeling quite insecure about it. She also knew that Harry would probably be blaming himself for everything that happened. She would have to fix that once she returned to school. For now, she would rest.

/

Astoria Greengrass was having a bad couple days. Ever since the attack, she had been feeling worse and worse. She knew it hadn't really been anyones fault, what had happened to Daphne, but she couldn't help but blame herself in some way. If she hadn'tbeen  
playing around in the greenhouses, then Daphne wouldn't have needed to come after her, and in turn, wouldn't have been in the line of fire.

The whole situation was very taxing for Astoria. She hadn't really done anything, she had just hid while everyone else in her family did all the real work. She was ashamed to admit to that fact. While Daphne was out there getting hurt, she had beenhiding  
in her room.

If only she had been able to actually contribute, then maybe Daphne wouldn't have gotten hurt. Yes, she was just a third year, but she could've helped in some way.

She had been sobbing uncontrollably right after the incident. Her mother tried to console her, but the sight of her big sister laying there, blood pooling out of her stomach, had been too much to handle. She had broken down right then and there, inthe  
middle of Saint Mungos.

There had been another situation with her big sister in Hogwarts as well. Nobody had told her anything of the situation, but she knew Daphne had been in the hospital wing for a couple of days, and her parents had even come to Hogwarts. Nobody hadgiven  
any explanation, and she knew better than to pry. She also knew that Potter had somehow been involved.

Potter. For days, she had been cursing his name. Maybe she was unfairly redirecting all the blame onto him, but she didn't care. He was the bane of all their recent problems. Ever since the prat had come into Daphne's life, things had been going wrong.

First had come the situation, at Hogwarts, which she knew little to nothing about. Then was the attack on her by Nott at Hogsmeade. She had heard about it from Daphne herself. Finally there was this whole mess. The boy undoubtedly brought harm withhim.

She knew he had helped dissolve the contract with the Notts, and although that was brilliant, a lot of bad things had come with him in general. Astoria was no fool. She knew what this thing with Potter meant for her family. By supporting him in theWizengamot,  
they had practically aligned themselves with the boy in the upcoming war. This brought even greater peril upon her family. The followers of the Dark Lord would be after blood, and she feared next time, it would be worse.

She had watched him during the feast. He didn't even look concerned. How could he be that carefree after what had happened to her sister? He didn't even look upset at all! He'd been laughing with his Gryffindor friends, not even worried about Daphne.

She was going to give hima peace of her mind today.

She waited from her seat at the Slytherin table for him to enter the Great Hall for breakfast. Both Weasley and Granger were already here. Why isn't he here yet? She wondered.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, he finally entered the grand room. He strode in, albeit more subdued than he had been the night before, with his shoulders slumped. She waited for the boy to finish eating breakfast before approaching him.

As she got closer, she noticed he had bags beneath his eyes, like he hadn't slept at all last night, and his face seemed marred with a permanent frown. His glowing green eyes seemed downcast.

Granger tried to get him to speak, but Potter would only respond with short one word answers. Once Astoria got close enough, she tapped the boy on the shoulder, and fixed her icy glare that she had learned from Daphne.

He turned towards her, before looking a little scared. "Could I have a word Potter?" She asked him icily.

"Uhm… yeah of course," he responded, not meeting her eyes. Standing, he silently bade farewell to his friends and began walking. Astoria walked slightly behind him. When they had exited the Great Hall, and she had made sure nobody was around them,she  
drew her wand.

"So.. uh.. what did you want to talk abou-" he began, but was interrupted when he felt the tip of a wand press into his lower back.

"Don't try anything, Potter. Go into that empty classroom," Astoria intoned, motioning to one of the rooms ahead.

He silently kept walking, and opened the door to the room and stepped in. She walked in after him, her wand still trained on him. "Turn around," she ordered.

Harry complied, and found himself staring right at her wand.

"Listen well, Potter, I'll only say this once," she began, frostily. "Stay the hell away from Daphne, and my family."

Harry shuddered, before nodding his head.

"How can you walk into this school so nonchalantly, knowing what just happened to my sister? Supposedly you care for her." Astoria inquired, never once lowering her wand.

"I uh, actually only found out about it last night after the feast," Potter responded.

Now she lowered her wand, for the tiniest second, before raising it again. "What? How do you not know?"

"Nobody told me about it, so I asked the headmaster yesterday when I couldn't find her anywhere. He then told me what happened," he tried.

Astoria shook her head, strengthening her resolve. "Doesn't matter, what I said earlier still stands. Ever since you came into her life, Daphne has had one problem after the other," she said. "Do you know Daphne could have died? Because of you!"

Potter actually looked like he had tears in his eyes when she said that, and she almost softened. Almost. Deep down she felt quite horrid, saying all these things, but she knew she had to. For her sisters sake.

"I thank you for dissolving the contract, but you've done your part now. If you claim to care for her so much, then you'll stay away," Astoria continued.

Harry simply nodded, having decided much of the same himself. But it still hurt to hear it from someone else. Distancing himself from the Greengrasses would prevent any further attacks, and so he would. "I understand. I was planning to do as much,"he  
said, looking at the ground.

"Great, then we have an understanding," Astoria growled, before sheathing her wand and walking out of the room.

Harry slowly picked himself up and returned to the Great Hall and sat down next to Hermione and Ron, once again resuming picking at his food.

"Harry? What happened? What did she want?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, nothing, she just warned me to stay away from Daphne." Harry said dully.

"What?" he heard Ron say. "Bloody hell, why?"

"I found out why Daphne wasn't on the express, or at school yesterday," Harry explained. "Her house was attacked by Death Eaters, and she was injured pretty bad. She was taken to Saint Mungos."

Hermione gasped, while Ron stared at him dumbly.

"Basically, they found out she had a relationship with me, and decided to teach the Greengrasses a lesson," Harry continued, looking down.

"Oh my god! Is she okay? Harry, you mustn't blame yourself for what happened! I know she wouldn't want you to," Hermione reasoned.

Harry looked at her with fire in his eyes, scaring her a little bit. "Well it is my fault isn't it?" He snapped. After a couple seconds his eyes softened. "M'sorry Hermione, I know you're just trying to help, I'm just frustrated and worried at thesame  
time, I guess. I'll just see you guys in class," he said, as he got up and left the Great Hall.

* * *

 **Hello again guys. Sorry it took so long for this update. It was shorter chapter for sure, but I felt this was a good place to end it. Next chapter should be pretty interesting, methinks. Hopefully next time it wont be so long before I update. Finally, please review, as I love to read your comments on the story. Please don't be too nasty, I don't want to be cryingwhile reading reviews.**

 **-Sithryn**


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